1983 DUPLO MCDONALDS HAPPY MEAL TOY boat sailor set #1919 vintage LEGO 1980s vtg

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Seller: sidewaysstairsco ✉️ (1,180) 100%, Location: Santa Ana, California, US, Ships to: US & many other countries, Item: 194241827641 1983 DUPLO MCDONALDS HAPPY MEAL TOY boat sailor set #1919 vintage LEGO 1980s vtg. Check out my other new & used items>>>>>>HERE! (click me) FOR SALE: An awesome McDonald's Happy Meal toy from the '80s 1983 MCDONALD'S/DUPLO "BOAT" BUILDING SET DETAILS: A McDonald's Happy Meal exclusive DUPLO set! This promotional LEGO DUPLO building set was released exclusively in McDonald’s Happy Meals for a short time in 1983. The "Boat" building set (set #: 1919) features a sailor man minifigure (a rare DUPLO figure) with blue interlocking pieces that can create a boat. The sailor minifigure is a male figure with a red base, blue sailor hat, large eyes, freckles, and an inviting smile . The sailor has appeared in two sets - the 1980 Car with Boat and Trailer set (set #: 2625) and this 1983 McDonald’s Happy Meal and Building Set (set #: 1919). The blue DUPLO building bricks make a boat for the sailor minifigure when assembled. You can also use the pieces and figure with any DUPLO and/or LEGO building sets and bricks! 5 interlocking pieces! 3 - Blue 2x2x1 Bricks (Duplo part #: 3011) 1 - Blue 2x4x1 Brick (Duplo part #: 3437) 1 – "Sailor" 2x2x2 Figure (Duplo part #: dupfig003) This DUPLO set is intended for children ages 1-4 CONDITION: In good, pre-owned condition; complete set without original packaging. Please see photos.  *To ensure safe delivery, all items are carefully packaged before shipping out.  THANK YOU FOR LOOKING. QUESTIONS? JUST ASK. *ALL PHOTOS AND TEXT ARE INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY OF SIDEWAYS STAIRS CO. ALL RIGHTS HERERESERVED.* "Lego Duplo (trademarked as DUPLO and stylized in the logo as duplo) is a core product range of the construction toy Lego by The LEGO Group, designed for children from 1+1⁄2 to 5 years old. Duplo bricks are twice the length, height, and width of traditional Lego bricks, making them easier to handle and less likely to be swallowed by younger children. Despite their size, they are still compatible with traditional Lego bricks. Initially launched in 1969, the Duplo range has expanded since then to include sets with figures, cars, houses, and trains. Duplo products are manufactured in Nyíregyháza, Hungary.... Development Before its introduction in 1969, The Lego Group investigated ways to produce safe, age-appropriate Lego bricks that were larger in size than traditional bricks in order to target young children aged one-and-a-half years and above. The company initially struggled to find a scale that would fit with the existing Lego System of Play, exploring 3:1 and 4:1 scales, but eventually settled on a 2:1 scale. In 1968, second generation owner Godtfred Kirk Christiansen provided the idea of hollowing out the studs on the Duplo bricks to make them compatible with the system. Duplo is derived from the Latin word for "duplex", meaning double.[1] Launch and release Duplo bricks alongside a smaller red regular-sized Lego brick Duplo and regular-sized Lego compatibility demonstrated Duplo bricks were introduced in 1969, in four colors: red, yellow, blue, and white.[2] The following year, two more sets were added with blue and red wheel plates. In the product catalog for 1971, the sets were described as being for children from 1 to 2 years, but were still sold mixed with Lego bricks, normally designed for ages 3 to 12. In 1972, the Duplo brick with two rows of two studs was introduced. In 1975, Duplo became its own product brand, with five sets made up exclusively of Duplo bricks. New additions included a round-topped two-by-two stud brick and a small four-wheeled wagon with two rows of six studs. With these new Duplo sets, Lego began targeting children 1+1⁄2 years old with the intention that when the children became older, their Duplo bricks could be used together with regular Lego bricks. In 1977, the Duplo name was dropped in favor of Lego Preschool. Small figures the size of two-by-two bricks were introduced, made up of a cylindrical head and a tapered, limbless body, similar in design to Fisher-Price's Little People. Another new brick was a half arch. The new sets included figures, doors, and two-by-six brick wagons that could act as a car or train. The name Duplo was brought back in 1979, along with a new reworked logo. Some brick sets were sold inside a plush version of the rabbit from the logo, that zipped closed. In 1983, other Duplo figures appeared, often called Duplo people. These figures have a moveable head, arms, and legs and look like large Lego minifigures, but cannot be taken apart, making them safer for small children. Also in 1983, set number 2700 was introduced with a model of a steam engine with two train cars. In 1986, a Duplo doll house with sliding doors was introduced. This included a Duplo people mother, father, and smaller child. In 1992, Duplo Toolo was introduced, which was a range of construction sets using screw drivers and was aimed at children between the ages of three and six.[3] 1993 brought a grey rail train system with a stop and start track. Later, two more train systems arrived. In 2005, Lego started selling Duplo trains themed as Thomas the Tank Engine. In 1995, Duplo Primo was launched, which was a line aimed at children aged between 6 and 24 months. Most of the products in this line were not construction toys. Duplo Primo was later renamed Lego Primo.[3] The name Duplo was dropped again in favour of Explore in 2002. The new brand name was used to emphasise the relationship between the bricks and the child's learning. Explore introduced four different ways of exploring play: explore being me; explore together; explore imagination and explore logic.[4] In the 2004 spring catalog, there was a reminder that Duplo was now called Explore, but that fall the well-known Duplo name was back yet again with a new rabbit logo designed to match the new elephant logo for the Lego Quatro range.[5] Lego have made Duplo sets licensed with Bob the Builder and Thomas & Friends characters. Those Duplo ranges have been discontinued, but Duplo sets now include farm, zoo, town, castle, and pirate lines. A doll house and princess castle are available as of 2008. Some Duplo sets have cars, trucks, and buildings which cannot be disassembled. Some DUPLO sets do not include building manuals. Production Lego Duplo is manufactured at a factory in Nyíregyháza, Hungary. Over 90% of all Duplo elements are manufactured at the plant, alongside traditional Lego bricks.[6] Csaba Tóth, Communications Director commented, "Every year, about 14 million Duplo boxes come out of the Nyíregyháza factory. For this, we inject 2 million Duplo cubes and Duplo parts a day".[7] Other media In 1995, Lego Duplo was the sponsor of the British children's pre-school television series Tots TV on CITV.[8] In 2014, Lego Duplo made an appearance in The Lego Movie, as aliens built from Duplo bricks that threaten the citizens of Bricksburg. They reappear in the 2019 sequel, The Lego Movie 2: The Second Part, as the same alien invaders, with the story picking up from the events of the previous film.[9] In October 2019, Lego Duplo World was launched, which is an educational games app that was designed to help children between the ages of two and five reach their key learning goals. It was developed by StoryToys in partnership with The Lego Group. The app has won several awards, including a 2020 Licensing International Award, a 2020 KAPI award at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, a 2021 Notable Children's Digital Media award from the American Library Association and a 2021 Kidscreen Award for best learning app (branded).[10] In March 2020, a new theme park attraction was announced at Legoland Windsor Resort. The Duplo Dino Coaster was introduced as part of Duplo Valley, an area of the park designed for children aged five and under. The area also includes Duplo Valley Airport, which involves fully controllable helicopters." (wikipedia.org) "Lego (/ˈlɛɡoʊ/ LEG-oh, Danish: [ˈle̝ːgo];[1][2] stylised as LEGO) is a line of plastic construction toys that are manufactured by The Lego Group, a privately held company based in Billund, Denmark. The company's flagship product, Lego, consists of variously coloured interlocking plastic bricks accompanying an array of gears, figurines called minifigures, and various other parts. Lego pieces can be assembled and connected in many ways to construct objects, including vehicles, buildings, and working robots. Anything constructed can be taken apart again, and the pieces reused to make new things.[3][4] The Lego Group began manufacturing the interlocking toy bricks in 1949. Movies, games, competitions and eight Legoland amusement parks have been developed under the brand. As of July 2015, 600 billion Lego parts had been produced.... History Main articles: History of Lego and Lego timeline Hilary Fisher Page's Interlocking Building Cubes of 1939 Lego bricks Two Lego Duplo bricks with a standard brick for comparison The Lego Group began in the workshop of Ole Kirk Christiansen (1891–1958), a carpenter from Billund, Denmark, who began making wooden toys in 1932.[6][7] In 1934, his company came to be called "Lego", derived from the Danish phrase leg godt [lɑjˀ ˈgʌd],[8][9] which means "play well".[10] In 1947, Lego expanded to begin producing plastic toys.[11] In 1949 Lego began producing, among other new products, an early version of the now familiar interlocking bricks, calling them "Automatic Binding Bricks". These bricks were based on the Kiddicraft Self-Locking Bricks, which had been patented in the United Kingdom in 1939[12] and released in 1947. Lego had received a sample of the Kiddicraft bricks from the supplier of an injection-molding machine that it purchased.[13] The bricks, originally manufactured from cellulose acetate,[14] were a development of the traditional stackable wooden blocks of the time.[11] The Lego Group's motto, "only the best is good enough"[15] (Danish: det bedste er ikke for godt, literally "the best isn't excessively good") was created in 1936.[7] This motto, which is still used today, was created by Christiansen to encourage his employees never to skimp on quality, a value he believed in strongly.[7] By 1951 plastic toys accounted for half of the Lego company's output, even though the Danish trade magazine Legetøjs-Tidende ("Toy Times"), visiting the Lego factory in Billund in the early 1950s, felt that plastic would never be able to replace traditional wooden toys.[16] Although a common sentiment, Lego toys seem to have become a significant exception to the dislike of plastic in children's toys, due in part to the high standards set by Ole Kirk.[17] By 1954, Christiansen's son, Godtfred, had become the junior managing director of the Lego Group.[16] It was his conversation with an overseas buyer that led to the idea of a toy system. Godtfred saw the immense potential in Lego bricks to become a system for creative play, but the bricks still had some problems from a technical standpoint: their locking ability was limited and they were not versatile.[3] In 1958, the modern brick design was developed; it took five years to find the right material for it, ABS (acrylonitrile butadiene styrene) polymer.[13][14] A patent application for the modern Lego brick design was filed in Denmark on 28 January 1958, and in various other countries in the subsequent few years.[18][19] Lego building at NASA's Kennedy Space Center The Lego Group's Duplo product line was introduced in 1969 and is a range of simple blocks whose lengths measure twice the width, height, and depth of standard Lego blocks and are aimed towards younger children.[16][20] In 1978, Lego produced the first minifigures, which have since become a staple in most sets.[21] In May 2011, Space Shuttle Endeavour mission STS-134 brought 13 Lego kits to the International Space Station, where astronauts built models to see how they would react in microgravity, as a part of the Lego Bricks in Space program.[22][23] In May 2013, the largest model ever created was displayed in New York City and was made of over 5 million bricks; a 1:1 scale model of an X-wing fighter.[24] Other records include a 34-metre (112 ft) tower[25] and a 4 km (2.5 mi) railway.[26][27] In February 2015, Lego replaced Ferrari as the "world's most powerful brand."[28][29] They were at position 378 of Brand Finances global brand ranking.[citation needed] In popular culture Main article: Lego in popular culture Lego's popularity is demonstrated by its wide representation and usage in many forms of cultural works, including books, films and art work. It has even been used in the classroom as a teaching tool.[30] In the US, Lego Education North America is a joint venture between Pitsco, Inc. and the educational division of the Lego Group.[31] In 1998, Lego bricks were one of the original inductees into the National Toy Hall of Fame at The Strong in Rochester, New York.[32] Design A model of Trafalgar Square, London, in Legoland Windsor Lego pieces of all varieties constitute a universal system. Despite variation in the design and the purposes of individual pieces over the years, each piece remains compatible in some way with existing pieces. Lego bricks from 1958 still interlock with those made in the current time, and Lego sets for young children are compatible with those made for teenagers. Six bricks of 2 × 4 studs[33] can be combined in 915,103,765 ways.[34] Each Lego piece must be manufactured to an exacting degree of precision. When two pieces are engaged they must fit firmly, yet be easily disassembled. The machines that manufacture Lego bricks have tolerances as small as 10 micrometres.[35] Dimensions of some standard Lego bricks and plates[36][37] Primary concept and development work takes place at the Billund headquarters, where the company employs approximately 120 designers. The company also has smaller design offices in the UK, Spain, Germany, and Japan which are tasked with developing products aimed specifically at these markets. The average development period for a new product is around twelve months, split into three stages. The first stage is to identify market trends and developments, including contact by the designers directly with the market; some are stationed in toy shops close to holidays, while others interview children. The second stage is the design and development of the product based upon the results of the first stage. As of September 2008 the design teams use 3D modelling software to generate CAD drawings from initial design sketches. The designs are then prototyped using an in-house stereolithography machine. These prototypes are presented to the entire project team for comment and for testing by parents and children during the "validation" process. Designs may then be altered in accordance with the results from the focus groups. Virtual models of completed Lego products are built concurrently with the writing of the user instructions. Completed CAD models are also used in the wider organisation, for marketing and packaging.[38] Lego Digital Designer is an official piece of Lego software for Mac OS X and Windows which allows users to create their own digital Lego designs.[39] The program once allowed customers to order their custom designs[40] with a service to ship physical models from Digital Designer to consumers; the service ended in 2012.[41] Manufacturing The Lego factory in Kladno, Czech Republic Lego injection moulding machines, made by the German company Arburg Since 1963, Lego pieces have been manufactured from a strong, resilient plastic known as acrylonitrile butadiene styrene (ABS).[14][35] As of September 2008, Lego engineers use the NX CAD/CAM/CAE PLM software suite to model the elements. The software allows the parts to be optimised by way of mould flow and stress analysis. Prototype moulds are sometimes built before the design is committed to mass production. The ABS plastic is heated to 232 °C (450 °F) until it reaches a dough-like consistency. It is then injected into the moulds using forces of between 25 and 150 tonnes, and takes approximately 15 seconds to cool. The moulds are permitted a tolerance of up to twenty micrometres, to ensure the bricks remain connected.[38] Human inspectors check the output of the moulds, to eliminate significant variations in colour or thickness. According to the Lego Group, about eighteen bricks out of every million fail to meet the standard required.[42] Lego factories recycle all but about 1 percent of their plastic waste from the manufacturing process. If the plastic cannot be re-used in Lego bricks, it is processed and sold on to industries that can make use of it.[43][44] Lego has a self-imposed 2030 deadline to find a more eco-friendly alternative to the ABS plastic it currently uses in its bricks.[45] Manufacturing of Lego bricks occurs at several locations around the world. Moulding is done in Billund, Denmark; Nyíregyháza, Hungary; Monterrey, Mexico and most recently in Jiaxing, China. Brick decorations and packaging are done at plants in Denmark, Hungary, Mexico and Kladno in the Czech Republic. The Lego Group estimates that in five decades it has produced 400 billion Lego blocks.[46] Annual production of Lego bricks averages approximately 36 billion, or about 1140 elements per second. According to an article in BusinessWeek in 2006, Lego could be considered the world's number one tyre manufacturer; the factory produces about 306 million small rubber tyres a year.[47] The claim was reiterated in 2012.[48] In December 2012, the BBC's More or Less radio program asked the Open University's engineering department to determine "how many Lego bricks, stacked one on top of the other, it would take for the weight to destroy the bottom brick?"[49] Using a hydraulic testing machine, the engineering department determined the average maximum force a 2×2 Lego brick can stand is 4,240 newtons; since an average 2×2 Lego brick has a mass of 1.152 grams (0.0406 oz), according to their calculations it would take a stack of 375,000 bricks to cause the bottom brick to collapse, which represents a stack 3,591 metres (11,781 ft) in height.[49] Private tests have shown several thousand assembly-disassembly cycles before the bricks begin to wear out,[50] although Lego tests show fewer cycles.[51] In 2018, Lego announced that it will be using bio-derived polyethylene to make its botanical elements (parts such as leaves, bushes and trees).[52] In 2020 the company announced that it would cease packaging its products in single-use plastic bags, and would instead be using recyclable paper bags.[53] [54] Set themes Further information: List of Lego themes A Lego set released in 2013, "Gold Getaway", based on the Lego Castle theme Lego sets of the Lego City theme Since the 1950s, the Lego Group has released thousands of sets with a variety of themes, including space, robots, pirates, trains, Vikings, castle, dinosaurs, undersea exploration, and wild west. Some of the classic themes that continue to the present day include Lego City (a line of sets depicting city life introduced in 1973) and Lego Technic (a line aimed at emulating complex machinery, introduced in 1977).[55] Over the years, Lego has licensed themes from numerous cartoon and film franchises and even some from video games. These include Batman, Indiana Jones, Pirates of the Caribbean, Harry Potter, Star Wars, and Minecraft. Although some of the licensed themes, Lego Star Wars and Lego Indiana Jones, had highly successful sales, Lego has expressed a desire to rely more upon their own characters and classic themes, and less upon licensed themes related to movie releases.[56] Discontinued sets may become a collectable and command value on the black market.[57] For the 2012 Summer Olympics in London, Lego released a special Team GB Minifigures series exclusively in the United Kingdom to mark the opening of the games. For the 2016 Summer Olympics and 2016 Summer Paralympics in Rio de Janeiro, Lego released a kit with the Olympic and Paralympic mascots Vinicius and Tom.[58] One of the largest Lego sets commercially produced was a minifig-scaled edition of the Star Wars Millennium Falcon. Designed by Jens Kronvold Fredericksen, it was released in 2007 and contained 5,195 pieces. It was surpassed by a 5,922-piece Taj Mahal. A redesigned Millennium Falcon retook the top spot in 2017 with 7,541 pieces.[59] Robotics themes Main articles: Lego Mindstorms, Lego Mindstorms NXT, Lego Mindstorms NXT 2.0, and Lego Mindstorms EV3 Lego also initiated a robotics line of toys called 'Mindstorms' in 1999, and has continued to expand and update this range ever since. The roots of the product originate from a programmable brick developed at the MIT Media Lab, and the name is taken from a paper by Seymour Papert, a computer scientist and educator who developed the educational theory of constructionism, and whose research was at times funded by the Lego Group.[60] The programmable Lego brick which is at the heart of these robotics sets has undergone several updates and redesigns, with the latest being called the 'EV3' brick, being sold under the name of Lego Mindstorms EV3. The set includes sensors that detect touch, light, sound and ultrasonic waves, with several others being sold separately, including an RFID reader.[61] The intelligent brick can be programmed using official software available for Windows and Mac computers, and is downloaded onto the brick via Bluetooth or a USB cable. There are also several unofficial programs and compatible programming languages that have been made to work with the brick, and many books have been written to support this community.[61] There are several robotics competitions which use the Lego robotics sets. The earliest is Botball, a national U.S. middle- and high-school competition stemming from the MIT 6.270 Lego robotics tournament. Other Lego robotics competitions include Junior FIRST LEGO League (Jr.FLL) for students ages 6–9 and FIRST Lego League (FLL) for students ages 9–16 (age 9–14 in the United States, Canada, and Mexico). Jr.FLL and FLL offer real-world engineering challenges to participants. FLL uses Lego-based robots to complete tasks. Jr.FLL participants build models out of Lego elements. In its 2010 season, there were 16,070 FLL teams in over 55 countries. In its 2010 season, there were 2,147 Jr.FLL teams with 12,882 total student participants in the United States and Canada. The international RoboCup Junior football competition involves extensive use of Lego Mindstorms equipment which is often pushed to its extreme limits.[62] First launched in 1996, the Lego website has developed over the years, and provides many extra services beyond an online store and a product catalogue. There are also moderated message boards that were founded in 2001.[75] The site also includes instruction booklets for all Lego sets dating back to 2002.[76] The Lego website features a social media app named Lego Life,[77][78] which is designed for children under 13 years of age. The app is available as a free download and only features Lego-related content. It was designed to be a social network for children to be inspired, create and share their Lego builds, photos and videos with a like-minded community, whilst also providing Lego content in the form of product advertising, images, videos, campaigns and competitions. The app incorporates a variety of child safety features to provide a safe digital environment for children, including the protection of personal information and the heavy moderation of all uploaded user-generated content and communication.[79][80] My Lego Network was a social networking site that involved items, blueprints, ranks, badges which were earned for completing certain tasks, trading and trophies called masterpieces which allowed users to progress to go to the next rank. The website had a built-in inbox which allowed users to send pre-written messages to one another. The Lego Network included automated non-player characters within called "Networkers", who were able to do things which normal users could not do, sending custom messages, and selling masterpieces and blueprints. The site also had modules which were set up on the user's page that gave the user items, or that displayed picture compositions. My Lego network closed in 2015. Before My Lego Network, there were Lego Club Pages, which essentially held the same purpose, although the design lacked complex interaction.[81] Theme parks Main article: Legoland Merlin Entertainments operates eight Legoland amusement parks, the original in Billund, Denmark, the second in Windsor, England, the third in Günzburg, Germany, the fourth in Carlsbad, California, the fifth in Winter Haven, Florida, the sixth in Iskandar Puteri, Malaysia,[82] the seventh in Dubai, United Arab Emirates,[83] and the eighth in Nagoya, Japan.[84] A ninth is planned to open in 2020 in Goshen, New York, United States,[84] and a tenth in 2022 in Shanghai, China.[85] On 13 July 2005, the control of 70% of the Legoland parks was sold for $460 million to the Blackstone Group of New York while the remaining 30% is still held by Lego Group.[86] There are also eight Legoland Discovery Centres, two in Germany, four in the United States, one in Japan and one in the United Kingdom. Two Legoland Discovery Centres opened in 2013: one at the Westchester Ridge Hill shopping complex in Yonkers, New York, and one at the Vaughan Mills in Vaughan, Ontario, Canada. Another opened at the Meadowlands complex in East Rutherford, New Jersey, in 2014.[87] Retail stores A Lego store in Canada Lester mascot at the world's largest Lego store in Leicester Square, London Lego operates 132 retail shops, called Lego Stores, spread across 20 countries.[88] The U.S. stores include the Downtown Disney shopping complexes at Disneyland and Walt Disney World Resorts as well as in Mall of America in Bloomington, Minnesota. The opening of each new store is celebrated with a weekend-long event in which a Master Model Builder creates, with the help of volunteers—most of whom are children—a larger-than-life Lego statue, which is then displayed at the new store for several weeks.[89] Business consultancy Main article: Lego Serious Play Since around 2000, the Lego Group has been promoting "Lego Serious Play", a form of business consultancy fostering creative thinking, in which team members build metaphors of their organizational identities and experiences using Lego bricks. Participants work through imaginary scenarios using visual three-dimensional Lego constructions, imaginatively exploring possibilities in a serious form of play.[90] Related products Video games Main article: List of Lego video games Lego branched out into the video game market in 1997 by founding Lego Media International Limited, and Lego Island was released that year by Mindscape. After this Lego released titles such as Lego Creator and Lego Racers. After Lego closed down their publishing subsidiary, they moved on to a partnership with Traveller's Tales, and went on to make games like Lego Star Wars, Lego Indiana Jones, Lego Batman, and many more including the very well-received Lego Marvel Super Heroes game, featuring New York City as the overworld and including Marvel characters from the Avengers, the Fantastic Four, the X-Men, and more.[91][92] More recently, Lego has created a game based on The Lego Movie, due to its popularity.[93] Board games Main article: Lego board games Lego Games launched in 2009, was a series of Lego-themed board games designed by Cephas Howard and Reiner Knizia[94][95] in which the players usually build the playing board out of Lego bricks and then play with Lego-style players. Examples of the games include "Minotaurus", in which players roll dice to move characters within a brick-build labyrinth, "Creationary", in which players must build something which appears on a card, or "Ramses Pyramid", in which players collect gems and climb up a customisable pyramid. Like many board games, the games use dice. In Lego Games, the dice are Lego, with Lego squares with symbols on Lego studs on the dice, surrounded by rubber. The games vary from simple to complex; some are similar to "traditional" board games, while others are completely different.[96] Films and television Main articles: List of Lego films, The Lego Movie, The Lego Batman Movie, and The Lego Ninjago Movie The first official Lego film was the straight-to-DVD release of Bionicle: Mask of Light in 2003 developed by Creative Capers Entertainment and distributed by Miramax Home Entertainment. Several other straight-to-DVD computer animated Bionicle sequels and Hero Factory movies were produced in the following years. Lego: The Adventures of Clutch Powers was released on DVD in February 2010, a computer-animated film made by Tinseltown Toons.[97] The Lego Movie, a feature film based on Lego toys, was released by Warner Bros. in February 2014.[98] It featured Chris Pratt in the lead role, with substantial supporting characters voiced by Elizabeth Banks, Will Arnett, Morgan Freeman, Liam Neeson, Alison Brie, Will Ferrell and Nick Offerman.[99] A contest was held for contestants to submit designs for vehicles to be used in the film.[100] After the release of The Lego Movie, independent Canadian toy retailers reported issues with shortages of Lego products and cited cancellations of Lego pre-orders without warning[101] as a motive to stock compatible, rival products.[102] A spin-off of The Lego Movie, entitled The Lego Batman Movie, directed by Chris McKay was released in the US in February 2017.[103] In June 2013, it was reported that Warner Bros. was developing a feature film adaptation of Lego Ninjago. Brothers Dan Hageman and Kevin Hageman were attached to write the adaptation, while Dan Lin and Roy Lee, along with Phil Lord and Chris Miller, were announced as producers.[104] The film, The Lego Ninjago Movie, was released in September 2017.[105] A computer-generated animated series based on Lego Ninjago: Masters of Spinjitzu began in 2011, and another based on Legends of Chima began in 2013. A television series of Lego City has also been announced.[106] Books and magazines Lego has an ongoing deal with publisher Dorling Kindersley (DK), who are producing a series of illustrated hardback books looking at different aspects of the construction toy. The first was The Ultimate Lego Book, published in 1999. More recently, in 2009, the same publisher produced The LEGO Book, which was sold within a slipcase along with Standing Small: A celebration of 30 years of the LEGO minifigure, a smaller book focused on the minifigure. In 2012, a revised edition was published. Also in 2009, DK also published books on Lego Star Wars and a range of Lego-based sticker books.[107] Although no longer being published in the United States by Scholastic, books covering events in the Bionicle storyline are written by Greg Farshtey. They are still being published in Europe by AMEET. Bionicle comics, also written by Farshtey, are compiled into graphic novels and were released by Papercutz. This series ended in 2009, after nine years.[108] There is also the Lego Club and Brickmaster magazine, the latter discontinued in 2011.[109] Clothing Kabooki, a Danish company founded in 1993, produces children's clothes branded as "Lego Wear" under licence from the Lego Group.[110] In 2020, Lego announced collaborations with Adidas and Levis.[111] In 2021, Lego announced collaborations with Justhype and Adidas inspired by Lego Ninjago theme.[112][113] In May 2021, Lego announced collaborations with Adidas inspired by Lego Vidiyo theme." (wikipedia.org) "Lego System A/S (trade name: The Lego Group) is a Danish toy production company based in Billund.[5] It is best known for the manufacture of Lego-brand toys, consisting mostly of interlocking plastic bricks. The Lego Group has also built several amusement parks around the world, each known as Legoland, and operates numerous retail stores. The company was founded on 10 August 1932 by Ole Kirk Christiansen.[6] The name Lego is derived from the Danish words leg godt, meaning "play well". In the first half of 2015, The Lego Group became the world's largest toy company by revenue, with sales amounting to US$2.1 billion, surpassing Mattel, which had US$1.9 billion in sales.[7][8] Niels B. Christiansen is the company's CEO, having assumed the position on 1 October 2017.... History Main article: History of Lego The history of Lego spans nearly 100 years, beginning with the creation of small wooden playthings during the early 20th century. Manufacturing of plastic Lego bricks began in Denmark in 1947, but since has grown to include factories throughout the world. In 2005, The Lego Group reported a 2004 net loss of DKK1,931 million on a total turnover, including Legoland amusement parks, of DKK7,934 million. For 2005, the company returned a profit of DKK702 million, having increased its revenue by 12% to DKK7,050 million in 2005 against DKK6,315 million in 2004. It also cut expenditures and disposed of amusement parks and a factory in Switzerland. In 2011, sales for the company grew 11%, rising from $2.847 billion in 2010 to $3.495 billion in 2011. Profit for 2011 fiscal year increased from $661 million to $776 million. The increased profit was due to the enormous popularity of the new brand Ninjago, which became the company's biggest product introduction ever.[17] In 2012, it was reported that The Lego Group had become the world's most valuable toy company ahead of Mattel with a value at over $14.6 billion.[18] The Lego Group delivered a turnover of DKK14,142m in the first half of 2015 with an increase of 18% compared with the same period in 2014 measured in local currency (i.e. excluding the impact of foreign exchange rate changes). Net profit for the first half of 2015 was DKK3,553m compared with DKK2,715m for the first half of 2014. First half-year sales were driven by double-digit growth across all geographical regions and strong product innovation on themes such as Lego Ninjago, Lego Elves and Lego Creator.[19] The Lego Group announced on 4 September 2017 its intention to cut 1,400 jobs following reduced revenue and profit in the first half of the year, the first reported decrease in 13 years.[20] The revenue losses are due to a more competitive environment, where the company has to compete not only against its traditional competitors Mattel and Hasbro, but also against technology companies such as Sony or Microsoft as more children use mobile devices for entertainment.[21] The job cuts account for 8 percent of the company's total work force.[20] In May 2018, the company made it to Forbes top 100 World's Most Valuable Brands 2018,[22] being 97th on the list. Legoland Main article: Legoland Legoland Discovery Centre in Duisburg, Germany The Lego Group has built eight amusement parks around the world, each known as Legoland. Each park features large-scale Lego models of famous landmarks and miniature Lego models of famous cities, along with Lego themed rides. The first Legoland park was built in Lego's home town of Billund in Denmark. This was followed by Legoland Windsor in England, Legoland California in Carlsbad, US and Legoland Deutschland in Günzburg, Germany. In addition, Legoland Sierksdorf was opened in 1973, but soon closed in 1976. In July 2005, the Lego Group announced that it had reached a deal with private investment company the Blackstone Group to sell all four parks for €375m to the Blackstone subsidiary Merlin Entertainments. Under the terms of the deal, The Lego Group would take a 30% share in Merlin Entertainments and positions on their board.[23] The sale of the theme parks was part of a wider strategy to restructure the company to focus on the core business of toy products. In 2010, Merlin Entertainments opened the first Legoland water park at the Legoland California site. On 15 October 2011, Merlin Entertainments opened their first new Legoland park, Legoland Florida, in Winter Haven, Florida. It is the largest Legoland opened to date at 145 acres, and also only one of the Legoland parks opened in the United States. The other Legoland (opened at a later date) water park was opened near the same location on 26 May 2012 after only four months of construction. Merlin Entertainments opened their second new Legoland park in Nusajaya, Malaysia under the name Legoland Malaysia on 22 September 2012.[24] It is the first Legoland in Asia and was quickly followed by another Lego-themed water park in the same area. The first Lego hotel has also opened near the site. People who stay in the hotel will also get tickets to the theme park and water park.[25] Merlin Entertainments has also planned several new Legoland parks: Legoland Dubai, Legoland Nagoya[26] (scheduled to open in 2015), and Legoland Korea[27] (also scheduled to open in 2015). In addition, they have opened four new Legoland Discovery Centres, which take the Legoland concept and scale it down to suit a retail park environment. Retail stores A Lego retail store The Lego Group operates 148 retail stores (83 in the United States, 17 in the United Kingdom, 11 in Germany, 10 in Canada, 7 in France, 2 in Spain, 2 in Austria, 2 in Italy, 2 in Serbia, 2 in Denmark, 1 in Belgium, 2 in China, 1 in Sweden, 1 in Poland, 1 in India, 1 in Lithuania and 3 in Mexico.).[28] The Lego Group also franchised its store brand to Majid Al Futtaim Group, which opened 6 stores in 2015 (4 in the United Arab Emirates, and 2 in Kuwait).[29] Europe October 2002 saw a significant change in The Lego Group's direct retail policy with the opening of the first so-called Lego Brand Store in Cologne, Germany. The second, in Milton Keynes, UK, followed quickly – several dozen more opened worldwide over the next few years, and most of the existing stores have been remodelled on the new Brand Store template. One of the distinctive features of these new stores is the inclusion of a "Pick-A-Brick" system that allows customers to buy individual bricks in bulk quantities. How a customer buys Lego pieces at a Pick-A-Brick is quite simple: customers fill a large or small cup or bag with their choice of Lego bricks from a large and varied selection and purchase it. The opening of most of these stores, including the 2003 opening of one in the Birmingham Bull Ring shopping centre in England, have been marked by the production of a new, special, limited edition, commemorative Lego Duplo piece. Lego opened the first brand store in its home country Denmark in Copenhagen on 13 December 2010. There are two stores in Austria, one store in Belgium, twelve stores in Germany, thirteen stores in the United Kingdom, six stores in France, five stores in Spain, two stores in Serbia, one store in Sweden, one store in Denmark, and one store in Lithuania for a total of 41 stores in Europe. In 2016, three stores opened in Italy: one in Milan, one in the shopping center near the Orio al Serio International Airport in Bergamo, and another in Verona. In 2020, the total amount of Lego stores in Italy reached 14, covering from North to South. North America In 1992, when the Mall of America opened in Bloomington, Minnesota, one of its premier attractions was the Lego Imagination Center (LIC). An imagination centre is a large Lego store with displays of Lego sculptures and a play area with bins of bricks to build with. The store inventory includes a large selection of Lego sets for sale, including sets which are advertised in Lego catalogues as "Not Available in Any Store". A second imagination centre opened at the Disney Springs (formerly Downtown Disney) at Walt Disney World Resort in Orlando, Florida. Between 1999 and 2005, Lego opened 24 further stores in North America in 23 states. As of 2016, there are 90 Lego stores operating or soon-to-be operating in North America in 32 US states and five Canadian provinces.[30] These stores sell various Lego merchandise, including minifigures, Pick-a-Brick, and custom packaged minifigures. India The first Lego store in India was opened in Chennai, Tamil Nadu in March 2014 by Funskool, under licence from the Lego Group.[31] Lego Interactive Lego Interactive (formerly Lego Media and later Lego Software) was the video game publishing division of The Lego Group.[32] The company was founded as Lego Media in 1996 and headquartered in London, England.[33] In February 1999, Lego Media announced their move into the girls' software industry, starting with Lego Friends.[34] Eventually, The Lego Group opted out of the video game business and Lego Interactive was shut down.[35] Former Lego Interactive staff opened Giant Interactive Entertainment, which later became part of TT Games.[35] Lego Media also operated a motion picture division, which produced the BBC children's series Little Robots for Cosgrove Hall Films.[36] In 2003, this division was rebranded to Create TV and Film Limited, and became independent from The Lego Group under Lego's majority owner Kirkbi A/S, which allowed Create TV and Film to branch onto other projects.[37][38][39] The company later produced Bionicle: Mask of Light, Bionicle 2: Legends of Metru Nui and Bionicle 3: Web of Shadows for Creative Capers Entertainment.[40] In 2005, Kirkbi A/S sold Create TV and Film to its chief executive officer, Vanessa Chapman, and the company was renamed Create Media Ventures Limited. The sale included Little Robots but excluded the Bionicle movies, which were retained by The Lego Group.[41] Toy production A Lego injection moulding plant in Neuhof, an area of Baar, Switzerland Lego products are mass-produced, packaged and shipped on a large scale. Lego Produktion AG was a major production facility for Lego. It was founded in Switzerland in 1974.[42] At the time of its announced closing in 2001, 30% of the world production of Lego was produced at the Swiss facility in Baar.[43] The Baar facility eventually closed in 2004.[44] In April 1962, the Lego Group began producing miniature tires; it became the largest tire manufacturing company in 2011, when it produced 381 million tires that year.[45] Environmental issues Lego acknowledges the impact of its operations on the environment, in particular in areas such as climate change, resource and energy use and waste. All manufacturing sites are certified according to the environmental standard ISO 14001. The first Borkum Riffgrund 1 wind turbines off the coast of Germany began producing electricity in February 2015, which will help The Lego Group reach its goal of being based 100% on renewable energy by 2020.[46] The company claims to recycle 90% of its waste and that it had made its operations nearly one-third more energy efficient over the five-year period ending 31 December 2013.[47][48] It is seeking alternatives to crude oil as the raw material for its bricks.[49] This results in the establishment in June 2015 the Lego Sustainable Materials Centre, which is expected to recruit more than 100 employees, as a significant step towards the 2030 ambition of finding and implementing sustainable alternatives to current materials.[50] In 2011, Lego bowed to pressure from the environmental campaigning organization Greenpeace, reportedly agreeing to drop supplier Asia Pulp and Paper, and pledging to only use packaging material certified by the Forest Stewardship Council in future.[51] The environmental group had accused Lego, Hasbro, Mattel and Disney of using packaging material sourced from trees cleared out of the Indonesian rainforest.[52] Lego partnered with the oil company Royal Dutch Shell in the 1960s, using the company's logo in some of its construction sets. This partnership continued until the 1990s, and was renewed again in 2011.[53] In July 2014, Greenpeace launched a global campaign to persuade Lego to cease producing toys carrying the oil company Shell's logo in response to Shell's plans to drill for oil in the Arctic.[54] Shell's PR company valued the most recent two-year deal with Lego at $116 million, and reported that Shell achieved a 7.5% worldwide sales uplift during the promotion video from Iris International.[48][55] Lego announced that when the latest contract between the two companies comes to an end it will not be renewing it.[56] As of August 2014, more than 750,000 people worldwide had signed a Greenpeace petition asking Lego to end its partnership with Shell.[57] Lego responded saying they "expect that Shell lives up to their responsibilities wherever they operate" and that they "intend to live up to the long term contract with Shell, which we entered into in 2011."[58] Meanwhile, Greenpeace produced a video campaigning against the Shell partnership; it received extensive press coverage[59][60] and was viewed more than six million times on YouTube.[61] In October 2014, Lego announced that it would not be renewing its promotional contract with Royal Dutch Shell but did not say when the existing deal with Shell expires. Greenpeace claimed the decision was in response to its campaigning.[62] Gender equality In January 2014, a handwritten letter to Lego from a seven-year-old American girl, Charlotte Benjamin, received widespread attention in the media. In it the young author complained that there were "more Lego boy people and barely any Lego girls" and observed that "all the girls did was sit at home, go to the beach, and shop, and they had no jobs, but the boys went on adventures, worked, saved people … even swam with sharks".[63][64] In June 2014, it was announced that Lego would be launching a new "Research Institute" collection featuring female scientists including a female chemist, palaeontologist, and astronomer.[64][65] The science-themed project was selected as the latest Lego Ideas winner, and was submitted by Ellen Kooijman, a geochemist in Stockholm.[66] Lego denied claims that the set was introduced to placate criticism of the company by activists, pointing to its Lego Ideas origins. The Research Institute range sold out within a week of its online release in August 2014. The BBC's Tom de Castella reported that Kooijman was pleased with the set's final design, despite the addition of face make-up to her original proposal, and that Becky Francis, professor of education and social justice at King's College London, who had been "very, very disappointed" by Lego Friends, is a fan.[67] In 2021, Lego released a set entitled "Everyone is Awesome" to celebrate and recognize the LGBTQ+ community. The set includes over 300 pieces and has 11 monochrome minifigures in the colours of the rainbow.[citation needed] Logos Below are historical images of the Lego logo throughout the company's existence." (wikipedia.org) "A Lego minifigure, commonly referred to as a minifig, is a small plastic articulated figurine produced by Danish toy manufacturer The Lego Group. They were first produced in 1978 and have been a success, with over 3.7 billion produced worldwide as of 2003.[1] Minifigures are usually found within Lego sets, although they are also sold separately as collectables in blind bags, or custom-built in Lego stores. While some are named as specific characters, either licensed from film, television, and game franchises, or of Lego's own creation, many are unnamed and are designed simply to fit within a certain theme (such as police officers, astronauts and pirates). Minifigures are collected by both children and adults. They are highly customizable, and parts from different figures can be mixed and matched, resulting in many combinations. Similar figures are produced by other companies, such as the Kreons from the construction toy Kre-O by the Korean company Oxford (subsidiary of Hasbro), or the figures by Block Tech or the Canadian company Mega Bloks.... History Early Lego minifigures without moving arms and legs A precursor to the minifigure was released in 1975. These were at the same scale as the current minifigures, but had a different design. They had solid torsos without separate movable arms, solid lower body pieces that were not moveable, and heads without printed features.[2] They had a small variety of headpieces in various colors, including caps, pigtail hair and cowboy hats. The first modern minifigures were released in 1978, included in Castle, Space, and Town sets.[3] These were designed by Jens Nygaard Knudsen,[4] who had come up with the idea for having the torsos, legs, and arm pieces interchangeable. As these were made into pieces, the company decided to give them a simple facial expression, rendered as two solid black dots for eyes and a smile painted in solid black, and without any gender or racial components, believing that these factors would be "determined by the child’s imagination and play".[5] In 1989 for the launch of Lego Pirates theme, minifigures also included hooks for hands, as well as peg legs; this was the first departure from the traditional body parts. Starting with Lego Pirates in 1989 and spreading to Lego Town and Lego Castle in the next few years, minifigures were also produced with different facial expressions such as facial hair, eye patches, feminine makeup, and sunglasses.[3] Most of these early facial additions were still centered around the two eyes and smile, however starting in 1997 with Willa the Witch of the Fright Knights facial expressions became more complex including open mouths and detailed eyes. Another departure from traditional parts was the use of spring-loaded legs. These legs are joined together at the top. These legs were only featured in basketball sets, 2002–2003. Other leg variations include short legs for children or dwarfs, or long legs (used in the Toy Story theme). In 2003, the first minifigures with naturalistic skin tones (as opposed to the yellow used until this point) were released, as part of the Lego Basketball theme; these minifigures were also created in the likeness of living people.[3] This also included Lando Calrissian in the Star Wars theme. The following year, the use of natural skin tones was expanded to all licensed products; in which figures were created to represent film actors and other living people. Popular examples include Star Wars, Indiana Jones, Harry Potter and Batman minifigures.[3] By 2006, Lego had reportedly produced 4 billion minifigures.[3] There are at least 3655 different minifigures produced between 1975 and 2010 and the number of new minifigures per year is increasing rapidly. In 2010 more than 300 new minifigures were introduced.[6] Design and construction The height of a typical minifigure is 4 centimetres (1.6 in). Minifigures generally feature six parts (widely referred to as tools in the toy industry): head, torso, hips, arms, hands, and legs; these six parts allow seven points of articulation: swivel head, swivel arms, swivel wrists, and swivel legs. Minifigures are usually packaged as three separate parts in Lego sets: head, torso and legs. The plastic is acrylonitrile butadiene styrene (ABS), a tough material that makes LEGO figures durable.[7] The plastic is melted into specially designed molds that produce the different parts of the minifigure. Some of the molds are also accessories such as weapons (swords, guns, lightsabers, etc.) or everyday accessories (cups, food, tools, etc.). Heads and torsos nearly always need further decoration, and sometimes the arms and legs do, too. This difficult process is why the figures are more expensive than any other Lego products. After being printed, the head is placed on the torso, the legs attached, and the arms are snapped on. The figures are finally bagged and readied for sale. First US patent release of LEGO figures by Interlego AG     First patent release of the LEGO figures     First patent release of the LEGO figures Use Minifigure heads are cylindrical, and attach to a long, narrow cylinder molded onto the top of the torso, which allows the head to rotate. This feature also allows items to be attached to the figures over the torso, such as air tanks, capes or breastplates. The heads have a stud on top which is the same size as studs on standard Lego bricks which could allow one to be placed on it. The head is the only component of the minifigure which can be used for other applications - blank minifigure heads have often been used in Lego sets to Head accessories vary widely, and include hair, helmets and hats. The legs rotate independently to 90 degrees forward, and nearly 45 degrees backward. Minifigures also connect to standard Lego bricks in both a sitting or standing position. The hands of a minifigure resemble the letter C, which allows them to hold many Lego accessories as well as bricks, tiles, and plates. There are hundreds of different accessories, including swords, axes, wands, cups, guns, and lightsabers. Additionally, the tops of the hands are approximately the same size as the studs on standard Lego bricks, which allows Lego pieces to be placed on top of them. These variations allow minifigures to be customized, keeping with the modular design of Lego elements. Design variations While nearly all minifigure heads, torsos, arms, hands and legs are the same size and shape, some sets have included figures that deviate from the standard. One of the most extreme design variations was a minifigure produced in an edition of five of the Star Wars character C-3PO, cast in solid 14-karat gold.[8] Torso Minifigures built from special, uniquely molded pieces were first introduced in Life on Mars. Martians are composed of five tools: two pairs of double arms, a mechanical torso, a conjoined leg piece, and a head. This configuration is also used for many Star Wars Droids; Battle Droids follow the same pattern, while Super Battle Droids feature a head fixed to a torso, General Grievous has space for four arms, and IG-88 has a head constructed of other Lego pieces. Other droids, such as Droidekas, Spider Droids and Pit Droids, are constructed entirely from standard Lego pieces, yet are still generally considered minifigures. R2-D2 and other astromech droids are constructed from unique parts, with a separate top, body and legs. The robots of Exo-Force, Mars Mission commander aliens and Bionicle miniatures have a design similar to the Star Wars Battle Droids, but with separate legs, movable hands, and a head affixed to a small torso. Hagrid, the half-giant character from the Harry Potter series, uses a larger minifigure body, with only the head being separable. Skeletons, usually found in Castle, Pirate, and Indiana Jones sets, use the standard minifigure head, but unique torsos, arms, and legs designed to resemble a skeletal structure; although different, these figure parts are still detachable. Skeleton figures and others alike stir up controversy on whether they should be considered a minifigure or just a "figure", due to the lack of standard minifigure parts. Additionally, some minifigures, mostly pirates, sometimes include peg legs and hooks for hands. Lego torsos often have black squares on the neck, this is to help with the automatic printing process when producing minifigures. Head Minifigures have also featured unique head sculpts that differ from the traditional cylindrical shape; the first was Jar Jar Binks, included in a Star Wars set in 1999, followed by Yoda, C-3PO, Harry Potter goblin figures, Kit Fisto, and Plo Koon. Kit Fisto was the first minifigure to not use an acrylonitrile butadiene styrene head.[8] The minifigure used rubber instead.[8] Traditional accessories, such as hats and helmets, cannot be placed on these non-standard heads. Some minifigures, such as Wookiees, Gamorrean Guards and Ewoks use a sandwich board piece which fits over the body. SpongeBob has a sculpted Lego brick head that fits like a standard head, similar to the ghost figures, except that these figures use short or standard legs instead of a brick. Head and neck-wear An enormous variety of clothing and accessories has been produced for minifigures, including hairstyles, caps, hats, and helmets. In Lego Star Wars sets,  Troopers and Stormtroopers have uniquely sculpted helmets, adapting the original character designs to the minifigure format. Exo-Force minifigures feature anime-style hair, as does the Nightwing minifigure from the Batman Arkham Asylum set. Ghost figures have a full-body cape which attaches to the head of the minifigure, and solid brick-like legs Legs Some minifigures created to resemble female characters, particularly in Castle and Pirate sets, use large sloped bricks instead of legs, to resemble dresses or skirts. However, these sloped bricks are taller than standard minifigure legs, making some characters seem awkward when placed next to taller females. In 2018, a special skirt piece was released, shorter, more softly curved on the back, and with regular leg pins to connect to the torso, instead of the studs on ordinary bricks. In the Simpsons theme as well as other themes, a skirt fabric has been created allowing the minifigure to wear skirts. However, the first skirt mold appeared for the Minnie Mouse and Alice minifigures within the Disney Collectible minifigures theme. The mold for the Ballerina's skirt does predate the Disney minifigures by several months, but it resembles a straight up oval plate and considered a tutu. Shorter legs, without joints at the hip, are sometimes used to create minifigures which are shorter in stature than standard figures (i.e. children, a leprechaun, Yoda or The Penguin). Such pieces were first created for Star Wars sets but have since been used elsewhere. In 2018, a medium-sized pair of legs was introduced, sized between the shorter legs and regular legs. These legs had a joint at the hip to allow individual movement of the legs, and were used to represent older tweens or younger teenagers, introduced for the rebooted Harry Potter theme. Other legs include Genie smoke legs, mermaid tail legs, snake tail legs and octopus legs. Customisation Minifig customisation is the practice of modifying Lego minifigures. This can be as simple as mixing and matching parts, or as complex as painting or remolding plastic. Some custom minifigures are made by affixing stickers or decals to the figures. There are also third party businesses which sell custom decals and molded minifigure accessories, many of which are inspired by popular media such as films and video games. While a relatively recent phenomenon, minifigure customisation has rapidly become popular within the wider building community, although some maintain a "purist" approach, using only elements produced by Lego. Lego executives have for some years now been using personalised minifigures in place of business cards, with email and phone details on the front and back of the torso, and hair and facial features designed to resemble each executive. You can see a list of 39 of these here at 39 Lego Employee Business Cards. It is believed that over 100 of these exist. Collecting Both children and adult fans of lego (AFOL) collect Lego Minifigures without collecting the sets. The Lego group has produced more than 1,000,000,000 Minifigures in the past 30 years[citation needed] and many people buy and sell these on eBay and other sites such as Bricklink. Some of the most expensive and rare minifigures can be viewed at Rare and Expensive Lego Minifigures. Collectible Minifigures (CMF) Main article: Lego Minifigures The Collectible Minifigures (CMF) theme, introduced in 2010, is a set of individually packaged "blind bag" minifigures. Each series consists of approximately 16 new and exclusive minifigures, with a random assortment of 60 polybags per box. A new series is released every three to four months, with some having a theme (e.g. monsters or masquerade) and others including a wide variety of minifigs. Several blogs publish "feel guides" to help collectors figure out which minifigures are inside the opaque package. The minifigures can be based on movies, sports, fiction, history, or jobs/hobbies (i.e. Punk Rocker, Dino Tracker, Caveman). All CMF minifigures come with a Lego "stand". Most CMF come with an (often unique) accessory and many have uniquely printed body parts. Variations Light up light-sabers Other variations of the standard minifigure produced for Star Wars sets included the light-up light-saber (L.U.L.S.) minifigures. These figures were released as a part of the more expensive Star Wars Episode III sets in 2005. These figures look like standard minifigures, but to facilitate internal electronics, their parts cannot be removed; the only exception to this is the headgear, the left hand and arm, and each of the legs from the hips. When the head is pressed down, an LED illuminates the light-saber blade. These figures rely on battery power for their special feature. The batteries last three hours and are not intended to be replaced, although replacement is possible. Many fans, especially children, were amenable to this innovation. Others however, particularly adult collectors, found these figures contentious, considering them to be an unwelcome gimmick. The fact that in two cases unique characters were produced solely as L.U.L. minifigs, with no standard version available to collectors, was also an unpopular decision. Following the initial release of these figures Lego announced no more were to be produced, due to their unpopularity and more expensive production. One set, the 7261 Turbo Tank, which featured an L.U.L. version of Jedi Knight Mace Windu, was even reissued with a standard version of the minifig and an extra  Trooper figure to make up the cost of the set. There was also at least one high end City themed set (a Police Station/HQ) that included a police officer with a light up 'torch'. Another L.U.L.S. minfig in police uniform appeared without the 'saber' part of the light saber and a yellow LED in the 'handle' of the light saber, reusing the L.U.L.S. design outside the Star-wars setting as an effective 'torch'. He appeared in a high end City set based on a standard and well selling City Police HQ design. A complaint about the set was that the L.U.L.S. minifig was contained in a 'try me' compartment of the box allowing customers (and excited children) to wear down his battery while he was still on the shelf. The set was discontinued after a year with a separate identical design but with 3 extra normal minifgs replacing the L.U.L.S. minfig. Magnets Yet another variation on the minifigure is the magnet figure, from such themes as Star Wars, Batman, Indiana Jones, and City. The magnet figures are not included in regular sets but are instead sold in packs of three or more. Some of these include accessories and display base bricks. These figures include magnets in their legs, which allow them to stick to metal surfaces. Magnet figures are nearly indistinguishable from standard figures in appearance. Unlike the LUL figures, only the torso and the hips of magnet minifigures are inseparable. Microfigures Within the Lego Games theme, the Lego microfigures were released. For that name, they are about half the size of the regular Lego minifigure. The microfigures have a fixed head, small, non-movable legs which somewhat resemble normal minifigure legs, and a hint of shoulders for arms. The microfigures have found their way into commercially available sets such as 10253 Big Ben. Nanofigures Lego Nanofigures are miniature versions of original minifigures, following the same general shape, but without any moving parts, roughly the same height as a regular minifigure's legs. They were originally, from 2010, produced in metal colors to represent statuettes, but later, from 2011 onwards, got printing to represent characters in sets produced in micro-scale, too small for regular minifigures, or to represent diminutive characters such as Ant-Man. Baby minifigure In 2016, a new minifigure mold was released which is a new baby. The baby is not like a microfigure, but rather a scaled-down minifigure of the adult one produced with arms and legs but not moveable. It currently appears in the Lego City Fun at the Park set, with the 16th series of Lego Minifigures, and LEGO 10255 Assembly Square, which is the 2017 Lego Modular Buildings. Other Lego figures In some Lego products, figures other than standard minifigures are used. A catalog that shows all these Lego figures is available.[9] Some Lego sets from 1974 on included much larger figures where only the heads and hair were special pieces [1], which is why the usual figures are "mini". Technic used larger scale action figures between 1986 and 2001. These figures featured more realistic sculpts, although still distinctively angular, and featured more articulation, including bendable elbows and knees. These figures are further distinguished from minifigures in that they cannot be easily disassembled; even the hair pieces are non-removable. Duplo includes figures that have less articulation than standard minifigures and cannot be disassembled for safety reasons. Likewise, the Fabuland collection, produced in the 1980s, consisted of larger anthropomorphized animal characters, which also could not be easily disassembled. Belville and Scala, Lego products marketed to girls, also include larger scale figures. These figures are similar to Technic figures in articulation, but featureless angular body sculpts. Scala figures more closely resemble dolls, in that clothes are separate from the figures and hair is made of strands rather than molded plastic. The Lego Baby line included figures that could move at all and had the size a bit bigger than the Duplo figures. In 2001 Lego further expanded the minifigure system, with the introduction of Bionicle figures. These figures are a part of a fictional story developed by Lego and resemble biomechanical creatures. Initially, these figures were produced without articulation, only able to hold tools and weapons. Bionicle later got replaced with Hero Factory in 2010. In 2005, Lego released Bionicle playsets, with minifigure variations of characters that had previously been produced in the larger Bionicle scale, notably the Toa and Visorak characters. While these minifigures did not feature movable parts, Lego released Piraka and Inika playsets in 2006, which included minifigures with movable parts. The Friends theme, released in 2012, included mini-doll figures, a more doll-like construction with more realistic anatomy, soon introduced into other themes chiefly aimed at girls. Even though the mini-dolls in the Lego Friends theme have more realistic anatomy, the mini-dolls' legs can only move ninety degrees into a sitting position. The mini-dolls' legs are also molded together and can not move separately as the traditional Lego minifigure legs can. The mini-doll in the Lego Friends theme is slightly taller than the traditional minifigure.[10] Depiction in other media Aluminum minifigures on board the Juno spacecraft: (left to right) Jupiter, Juno, and Galileo     Minifigures have appeared in a variety of short films. Examples include the Spellbreaker animated adventure featured in Legoland parks, produced by the Billund-based animation studio Lani Pixels, and the Lego-sanctioned spoof of Star Wars titled Revenge of the Brick, produced by Treehouse Animation. These short film features computer-animated minifigures with added articulation and mobility, as well as textural modifications to create a realistic effect. Promotional videos on the Lego Batman official site are presented in a similar format and are also produced by Treehouse Animation. The 2010 computer generated animation Lego: The Adventures of Clutch Powers became the first feature-length original Lego film; it has minifigures as the protagonists.     In 2011, Lego minifigures were featured in Toy Story 3 and the Toy Story short "Hawaiian Vacation".[11]     Lego has furthered the development of minifigures in entertainment media. In Lego video games, such as Lego Star Wars and Lego Racers, playable characters are animated minifigures, which feature more articulation and mobility than real minifigures, but retain the same basic appearance. Most Lego computer and video games have similarly animated minifigures, though depicted with varying degrees of realism.     In January 2012, a Lego minifigure carrying a Canadian flag was sent up to the stratosphere[12] and garnered worldwide attention.[13]     NASA's Juno spacecraft which entered orbit around the planet Jupiter in 2016 carries three specially commissioned minifigures on board. Cast from space-grade aluminum, the minifigures represent the astronomer Galileo, the Roman deity Jupiter and his wife Juno.[14]     The Lego Movie features minifigures in a Lego universe setting and has a sequel, The Lego Movie 2: The Second Part, and two spin-off movies:         The Lego Batman Movie which features minifigures in the DC Comics Universe setting and is considered a spinoff of The LEGO Movie as Batman was a character in both the movies.         The Lego Ninjago Movie features minifigures in the Lego Ninjago universe." (wikipedia.org) "A construction set is a set of standardized pieces that allow for the construction of a variety of different models. The pieces avoid the lead-time of manufacturing custom pieces, and of requiring special training or design time to construct complex systems. This makes them suitable for temporary structures, or for use as children's toys. One very popular brand is Lego.... Categories Construction sets can be categorized according to their connection method and geometry: Psychological benefits Construction toy play is beneficial for building social skills and building trust in others because it acts as a collaborative task where individuals have to cooperate in order to finish the task — building an object out of Legos, for example. The effect was found in high school students.[2] For children specifically, children who complete models using toy building blocks have much better spatial ability than children who do not complete such models. Spatial ability also predicts completion of models.[3] Construction toy play is also beneficial for autistic children when both individual and group play with building blocks is incorporated. Autistic children who played with building blocks were motivated to initiate social contact with children their age, they were able to maintain and endure contact with those children, and autistic children were also able to surpass the barriers of being withdrawn and being highly structured.[4] Influence on architecture Renowned architect Frank Lloyd Wright credited his childhood building blocks designed by Friedrich Fröbel as a major influence, and his son John Lloyd Wright created the widely known Lincoln Logs building set.[5] In addition to teaching architectural concepts such as modularity and load-bearing construction,[6] many architects credit construction set play as influencing their later design." (wikipedia.org) "McDonald's Corporation is an American fast food company, founded in 1940 as a restaurant operated by Richard and Maurice McDonald, in San Bernardino, California, United States. They rechristened their business as a hamburger stand, and later turned the company into a franchise, with the Golden Arches logo being introduced in 1953 at a location in Phoenix, Arizona. In 1955, Ray Kroc, a businessman, joined the company as a franchise agent and proceeded to purchase the chain from the McDonald brothers. McDonald's had its previous headquarters in Oak Brook, Illinois, but moved its global headquarters to Chicago in June 2018.[6][7][8][9] McDonald's is the world's largest restaurant chain by revenue,[10] serving over 69 million customers daily in over 100 countries[11] across 37,855 outlets as of 2018.[12][13] Although McDonald's is best known for its hamburgers, cheeseburgers and french fries, they feature chicken products, breakfast items, soft drinks, milkshakes, wraps, and desserts. In response to changing consumer tastes and a negative backlash because of the unhealthiness of their food,[14] the company has added to its menu salads, fish, smoothies, and fruit. The McDonald's Corporation revenues come from the rent, royalties, and fees paid by the franchisees, as well as sales in company-operated restaurants. According to two reports published in 2018, McDonald's is the world's second-largest private employer with 1.7 million employees (behind Walmart with 2.3 million employees).[15][16] As of 2020, McDonald's has the ninth-highest global brand valuation.... History Main article: History of McDonald's The oldest operating McDonald's restaurant is the third one built, opened in 1953. It is located at 10207 Lakewood Blvd. at Florence Ave. in Downey, California (at 33.9471°N 118.1182°W). Siblings Richard and Maurice McDonald opened the first McDonald's at 1398 North E Street at West 14th Street in San Bernardino, California (at 34.1255°N 117.2946°W), on May 15, 1940. The brothers introduced the "Speedee Service System" in 1948, putting into expanded use the principles of the modern fast-food restaurant that their predecessor White Castle had put into practice more than two decades earlier.[citation needed] The original mascot of McDonald's was a chef hat on top of a hamburger who was referred to as "Speedee".[18] In 1962, the Golden Arches replaced Speedee as the universal mascot. The mascot, clown Ronald McDonald, was introduced in 1965. He appeared in advertising to target their audience of children.[19] Logo from 1940 until 1948 Logo from 1948 until 1953 Logo from 1953 until 1960 On May 4, 1961, McDonald's first filed for a U.S. trademark on the name "McDonald's" with the description "Drive-In Restaurant Services", which continues to be renewed. By September 13, McDonald's, under the guidance of Ray Kroc, filed for a trademark on a new logo—an overlapping, double-arched "M" symbol. But before the double arches, McDonald's used a single arch for the architecture of their buildings. Although the "Golden Arches" logo appeared in various forms, the present version was not used until November 18, 1968, when the company was favored a U.S. trademark. The present corporation credits its founding to franchised businessman Ray Kroc on April 15, 1955. This was in fact the ninth opened McDonald's restaurant overall, although this location was destroyed and rebuilt in 1984. In 1961, Kroc purchased the McDonald brothers' equity in the company and began the company's worldwide reach.[20] Kroc was recorded as being an aggressive business partner, driving the McDonald brothers out of the industry. Kroc and the McDonald brothers fought for control of the business, as documented in Kroc's autobiography. The San Bernardino restaurant was eventually torn down in 1971, and the site was sold to the Juan Pollo chain in 1998. This area serves as headquarters for the Juan Pollo chain, and a McDonald's and Route 66 museum.[21] With the expansion of McDonald's into many international markets, the company has become a symbol of globalization and the spread of the American way of life. Its prominence has made it a frequent topic of public debates about obesity, corporate ethics, and consumer responsibility. Corporate overview Facts and figures Corporate logo used from 1960 until November 18, 1968 Corporate logo used from November 18, 1968, until 2003, 2010 to present Corporate logo used from 1993 to 2010 By 1993, McDonald's had sold more than 100 billion hamburgers. The once widespread restaurant signs that boasted the number of sales, such as this one in Harlem, were left at "99 billion" because there was space for only two digits. This McDonald's closed on September 9, 2019.[22] The McDonald's in Northport, Alabama commemorates U.S. President Ronald Reagan's visit McDonald's restaurants are found in 120 countries and territories around the world and serve 68 million customers each day.[23][24] McDonald's operates 37,855 restaurants worldwide, employing more than 210,000 people as of the end of 2018.[12][13][23] There are a total of 2,770 company-owned locations and 35,085 franchised locations, which includes 21,685 locations franchised to conventional franchisees, 7,225 locations licensed to developmental licensees, and 6,175 locations licensed to foreign affiliates.[12][13] Focusing on its core brand, McDonald's began divesting itself of other chains it had acquired during the 1990s. The company owned a majority stake in Chipotle Mexican Grill until October 2006, when McDonald's fully divested from Chipotle through a stock exchange.[25][26] Until December 2003, it owned Donatos Pizza, and it owned a small share of Aroma Café from 1999 to 2001. On August 27, 2007, McDonald's sold Boston Market to Sun Capital Partners.[27] Notably, McDonald's has increased shareholder dividends for 25 consecutive years,[28] making it one of the S&P 500 Dividend Aristocrats.[29][30] The company is ranked 131st on the Fortune 500 of the largest United States corporations by revenue.[31] In October 2012, its monthly sales fell for the first time in nine years.[32] In 2014, its quarterly sales fell for the first time in seventeen years, when its sales dropped for the entirety of 1997.[33] In the United States, it is reported that drive-throughs account for 70 percent of sales.[34][35] McDonald's closed down 184 restaurants in the United States in 2015, which was 59 more than what they planned to open.[36][37] This move was the first time McDonald's had a net decrease in the number of locations in the United States since 1970.[37] The McDonald's on-demand delivery concept, which began in 2017 with a partnership with Uber Eats and added DoorDash in 2019 (with select locations adding Grubhub in 2021), accounts for up to 3% of all business as of 2019.[38] The $100 billion in sales generated by McDonald's company-owned and franchise restaurants in 2019 accounts for almost 4% of the estimated $2.5 trillion global restaurant industry.[39] Finance For the fiscal year 2018, McDonald's reported earnings of US$5.9 billion, with an annual revenue of US$21.0 billion, a decrease of 7.9% over the previous fiscal cycle. McDonald's shares traded at over $145 per share, and its market capitalization was valued at over US$134.5 billion in September 2018. Year     Revenue in mil. USD$     Net income in mil. USD$     Total assets in mil. USD$     Price per share in USD$     Locations[40]     Employees     Ref. 2005     19,117     2,602     29,989     31.88             [41] 2006     20,895     3,544     28,975     36.79     31,046         [41] 2007     22,787     2,395     29,392     50.98     31.377         [41] 2008     23,522     4,313     28,462     58.06     31,967         [42] 2009     22,745     4,551     30,225     57.44     32,478         [43] 2010     24,075     4,946     31,975     70.91     32,737         [44] 2011     27,006     5,503     32,990     83.97     33,510         [45] 2012     27,567     5,465     35,387     92.53     34,480         [46] 2013     28,106     5,586     36,626     97.26     35,429     440,000     [47] 2014     27,441     4,758     34,227     96.38     36,258     420,000     [48] 2015     25,413     4,529     37,939     100.28     36,525     420,000     [49] 2016     24,622     4,687     31,024     120.14     36,899     375,000     [50] 2017     22,820     5,192     33,804     148.76     37,241     235,000     [51] 2018     21,025     5,924     32,811     166.06     37,855     210,000     [52] 2019     21,077     6,025     47,511         38,695     205,000     [53] Business model Ray Kroc joined the chain in 1954 and built it into a global franchise, making it the most successful fast food corporation in the world. The company owns all the land on which its restaurants are situated, which is valued at an estimated $16 to $18 billion.[citation needed] The company earns a significant portion of its revenue from rental payments from franchisees. These rent payments rose 26 percent between 2010 and 2015, accounting for one-fifth of the company's total revenue at the end of the period.[54] In recent times, there have been calls to spin off the company's U.S. holdings into a potential real estate investment trust, but the company announced at its investor conference on November 10, 2015, that this would not happen. CEO Steve Easterbrook discussed that pursuing the REIT option would pose too large a risk to the company's business model.[55] The United Kingdom and Ireland business model is different from the U.S, in that fewer than 30 percent of restaurants are franchised, with the majority under the ownership of the company. McDonald's trains its franchisees and management at Hamburger University located at its Chicago headquarters.[56][57] In other countries, McDonald's restaurants are operated by joint ventures of McDonald's Corporation and other, local entities or governments.[58] According to Fast Food Nation by Eric Schlosser (2001), nearly one in eight workers in the U.S. have at some time been employed by McDonald's. Employees are encouraged by McDonald's Corp. to maintain their health by singing along to their favorite songs in order to relieve stress, attending church services in order to have a lower blood pressure, and taking two vacations annually in order to reduce risk for myocardial infarction.[59] Fast Food Nation states that McDonald's is the largest private operator of playgrounds in the U.S., as well as the single largest purchaser of beef, pork, potatoes, and apples. The selection of meats McDonald's uses varies to some extent based on the culture of the host country.[60] Headquarters On June 13, 2016, McDonald's confirmed plans to move its global headquarters to Chicago's West Loop neighborhood in the Near West Side. The 608,000-square-foot structure opened on June 4, 2018, and was built on the former site of Harpo Productions (where The Oprah Winfrey Show and several other Harpo productions taped).[6][7] The McDonald's former headquarters complex, McDonald's Plaza, is located in Oak Brook, Illinois. It sits on the site of the former headquarters and stabling area of Paul Butler, the founder of Oak Brook.[61] McDonald's moved into the Oak Brook facility from an office within the Chicago Loop in 1971.[62] Board of directors As of February 2021, the board of directors had the following members:[63]     Enrique Hernandez Jr., non-executive chairman; president and CEO of Inter-Con Security     Lloyd H. Dean, president and CEO of Dignity Health     Chris Kempczinski, president and CEO of McDonald's     Robert A. Eckert, operating partner of Friedman Fleischer & Lowe     Margo Georgiadis, CEO of Ancestry.com     Richard H. Lenny, non-executive of Conagra Brands     John J. Mulligan, executive vice president and COO of Target Corporation     Sheila A. Penrose, non-executive chairman of Jones Lang LaSalle     John W. Rogers Jr., chairman and CEO of Ariel Investments     Miles D. White, chairman and CEO of Abbott Laboratories     Andrew J. McKenna, chairman emeritus. Also chairman emeritus of Schwarz Supply Source     Catherine M. Engelbert, commissioner of the Women's National Basketball Association     Paul S. Walsh, executive chairman of McLaren Group On March 1, 2015, after being chief brand officer of McDonald's and its former head in the UK and northern Europe, Steve Easterbrook became CEO, succeeding Don Thompson, who stepped down on January 28, 2015. On November 4, 2019, McDonald's announced that Steve Easterbrook would no longer be CEO due to a violation of company guidelines pertaining to relationships with employees. Easterbrook was succeeded as CEO by Chris Kempczinski.[64] Global operations See also: List of countries with McDonald's restaurants and International availability of McDonald's products Countries with McDonald's restaurants, showing their first year with its first restaurant McDonald's has become emblematic of globalization, sometimes referred to as the "McDonaldization" of society. The Economist newspaper uses the "Big Mac Index": the comparison of the cost of a Big Mac in various world currencies can be used to informally judge these currencies' purchasing power parity. Switzerland has the most expensive Big Mac in the world as of July 2015, while the country with the least expensive Big Mac is India[65][66] (albeit for a Maharaja Mac—the next cheapest Big Mac is Hong Kong).[67] Thomas Friedman said that no country with a McDonald's had gone to war with another;[68][69] however, the "Golden Arches Theory of Conflict Prevention" is incorrect. Exceptions are the 1989 United States invasion of Panama, NATO's bombing of Serbia in 1999, the 2006 Lebanon War, and the 2008 South Ossetia war. McDonald's suspended operations in its corporate-owned stores in Crimea after Russia annexed the region in 2014.[70] On August 20, 2014, as tensions between the United States and Russia strained over events in Ukraine, and the resultant U.S. sanctions, the Russian government temporarily shut down four McDonald's outlets in Moscow, citing sanitary concerns. The company has operated in Russia since 1990 and at August 2014 had 438 stores across the country.[71] On August 23, 2014, Russian Deputy Prime Minister Arkady Dvorkovich ruled out any government move to ban McDonald's and dismissed the notion that the temporary closures had anything to do with the sanctions.[72] Some observers have suggested that the company should be given credit for increasing the standard of service in markets that it enters. A group of anthropologists in a study entitled Golden Arches East[73] looked at the impact McDonald's had on East Asia and Hong Kong, in particular. When it opened in Hong Kong in 1975, McDonald's was the first restaurant to consistently offer clean restrooms, driving customers to demand the same of other restaurants and institutions. McDonald's has taken to partnering up with Sinopec, the second largest oil company in the People's Republic of China, as it takes advantage of the country's growing use of personal vehicles by opening numerous drive-thru restaurants.[74] McDonald's has opened a McDonald's restaurant and McCafé on the underground premises of the French fine arts museum, The Louvre.[75] The company stated it would open vegetarian-only restaurants in India by mid-2013.[76] On January 9, 2017, 80% of the franchise rights in the mainland China and in Hong Kong were sold for US$2.08 billion to a consortium of CITIC Limited (for 32%) and private equity funds managed by CITIC Capital (for 20%) and Carlyle (for 20%), which CITIC Limited and CITIC Capital would formed a joint venture to own the stake.[77]     McDonald's restaurants     Orlando, Florida, United States     Markham, Ontario, Canada     Pop-up restaurant at the Olympic Park in London, United Kingdom     São Paulo, Brazil     Lugano, Switzerland     Sargodha, Pakistan     Paris, France     Dubai, UAE     Kosher-McDonald's in Ashkelon, Israel     Busan, South Korea     Tokyo, Japan     Hong Kong     Sydney, Australia     Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina Products Main article: List of McDonald's products A typical "eat-in" McDonald's meal as sold in Hong Kong, consisting of French fries, a soft drink, and a "main product" – in this case, a McSpicy Chicken Fillet. Condiments are supplied in small packets; such a packet of tomato ketchup is seen in the foreground. McDonald's predominantly sells hamburgers, various types of chicken, chicken sandwiches, French fries, soft drinks, breakfast items, and desserts. In most markets, McDonald's offers salads and vegetarian items, wraps and other localized fare. On a seasonal basis, McDonald's offers the McRib sandwich. Some speculate the seasonality of the McRib adds to its appeal.[78] Products are offered as either "dine-in" (where the customer opts to eat in the restaurant) or "take-out" (where the customer opts to take the food off the premises). "Dine-in" meals are provided on a plastic tray with a paper insert on the floor of the tray. "Take-out" meals are usually delivered with the contents enclosed in a distinctive McDonald's-branded brown paper bag. In both cases, the individual items are wrapped or boxed as appropriate. Since Steve Easterbrook became CEO of the company, McDonald's has streamlined the menu which in the United States contained nearly 200 items. The company has looked to introduce healthier options, and removed high-fructose corn syrup from hamburger buns. The company has removed artificial preservatives from Chicken McNuggets,[79] replacing chicken skin, safflower oil and citric acid found in Chicken McNuggets with pea starch, rice starch and powdered lemon juice.[80] In September 2018, McDonald's USA announced that they no longer use artificial preservatives, flavors and colors entirely from seven classic burgers sold in the U.S., including the hamburger, cheeseburger, double cheeseburger, McDouble, Quarter Pounder with Cheese, double Quarter Pounder with Cheese and the Big Mac.[81][82] Nevertheless, the pickles will still be made with an artificial preservative, although customers can choose to opt out of getting pickles with their burgers.[83][84] In November 2020, McDonald's announced McPlant, a plant-based burger, along with plans to develop additional meat alternative menu items that extend to chicken substitutes and breakfast sandwiches.[85][86] This announcement came after the successful testing of Beyond Meat plant based meat substitutes. International menu variations See also: International availability of McDonald's products A McDonald's Ebi Feast meal sold at branches in Singapore, November 2013. McDonald's is known for tailoring its menus in different markets to cater to local tastes. McDonald's Happy Price Menu. Delhi. 2004. Restaurants in several countries, particularly in Asia, serve soup. This local deviation from the standard menu is a characteristic for which the chain is particularly known, and one which is employed either to abide by regional food taboos (such as the religious prohibition of beef consumption in India) or to make available foods with which the regional market is more familiar (such as the sale of McRice in Indonesia, or Ebi (prawn) Burger in Singapore and Japan). In Germany and some other Western European countries, McDonald's sells beer. In New Zealand, McDonald's sells meat pies, after local affiliate McDonald's New Zealand partially relaunched the Georgie Pie fast food chain it bought out in 1996.[87] In Greece, the signature hamburger, Big Mac, is changed by adding Tzatziki sauce and packaging in a pita.[88] In the United States and Canada, after limited trials on a regional basis, McDonald's began offering in 2015[89] and 2017,[90] respectively, a partial breakfast menu during all hours its restaurants are open. Restaurants Globe icon.     The examples and perspective in this section deal primarily with the United States and do not represent a worldwide view of the subject. You may improve this section, discuss the issue on the talk page, or create a new section, as appropriate. (November 2015) (Learn how and when to remove this template message) Types of restaurants Counter service in a McDonald's restaurant in Dukhan, Qatar Most standalone McDonald's restaurants offer both counter service and drive-through service, with indoor and sometimes outdoor seating.[91] Drive-Thru, Auto-Mac, Pay and Drive, or "McDrive" as it is known in many countries, often has separate stations for placing, paying for, and picking up orders, though the latter two steps are frequently combined;[91] it was first introduced in Sierra Vista, Arizona in 1975,[92] following the lead of other fast-food chains. The first such restaurant in Britain opened at Fallowfield, Manchester in 1986.[93] In 1994, McDonald's attempted Hearth Express, a prototype specializing in homestyle takeout meals. Among the fare offered were meatloaf, fried chicken, and baked ham. This experiment started with a single location in Darien, Illinois, but closed in only one year.[94] McDrive In some countries, McDrive locations near highways offer no counter service or seating.[95] In contrast, locations in high-density city neighborhoods often omit drive-through service.[96] There are also a few locations, mostly in downtown districts, that offer a "Walk-Thru" service in place of Drive-Thru.[97] McCafé Main article: McCafé A Montevideo McCafé McCafé is a café-style accompaniment to McDonald's restaurants. The concept was created by McDonald's Australia, starting with Melbourne in 1993.[98] As of 2016, most McDonald's in Australia have McCafés located within the existing McDonald's restaurant. In Tasmania, there are McCafés in every restaurant, with the rest of the states quickly following suit.[91] After upgrading to the new McCafé look and feel, some Australian restaurants have noticed up to a 60 percent increase in sales. At the end of 2003, there were over 600 McCafés worldwide. "Create Your Taste" restaurants From 2015 to 2016, McDonald's tried a new gourmet burger service and restaurant concept based on other gourmet restaurants such as Shake Shack and Grill'd. It was rolled out for the first time in Australia during the early months of 2015 and expanded to China, Hong Kong, Singapore, Arabia and New Zealand, with ongoing trials in the US market. In dedicated "Create Your Taste" (CYT) kiosks, customers could choose all ingredients including type of bun and meat along with optional extras. In late 2015 the Australian CYT service introduced CYT salads. After a person had ordered, McDonald's advised that wait times were between 10 and 15 minutes. When the food was ready, trained crew ('hosts') brought the food to the customer's table. Instead of McDonald's usual cardboard and plastic packaging, CYT food was presented on wooden boards, fries in wire baskets and salads in china bowls with metal cutlery. A higher price applied. In November 2016, Create Your Taste was replaced by a "Signature Crafted Recipes" program designed to be more efficient and less expensive.[99] Other McDonald's at the Itis Mall in Itäkeskus, Helsinki, Finland Some locations are connected to gas stations and convenience stores,[100] while others called McExpress have limited seating or menu or may be located in a shopping mall. Other McDonald's are located in Walmart stores. McStop is a location targeted at truckers and travelers which may have services found at truck stops.[101] In Sweden, customers who order a happy meal can use the meal's container for a pair of goggles.[102] The company created a game for the goggles known as Slope Stars.[102] McDonald's predicts happy goggles will continue in other countries.[102] In the Netherlands, McDonald's has introduced McTrax that doubles as a recording studio; it reacts to touch.[102] They can create their own beats with a synth and tweak sounds with special effects.[102] Special diet A kosher Express McDonald's outlet in the Malha Mall in Jerusalem [icon]    This section needs expansion with: Details of other McDonald's restaurants where special dietary requirements are catered for. You can help by adding to it. (November 2015) The first kosher McDonald's was established in 1997 at the Abasto de Buenos Aires mall in Buenos Aires, Argentina. There are many kosher branches in Israel.[103][104] Playgrounds A McDonald's in Panorama City, Los Angeles, California with a Playplace designed to promote a family-friendly image McDonald's playgrounds are called McDonald's PlayPlace. Some McDonald's in suburban areas and certain cities feature large indoor or outdoor playgrounds. The first PlayPlace with the familiar crawl-tube design with ball pits and slides was introduced in 1987 in the US, with many more being constructed soon after.[citation needed] McDonald's Next McDonald's Next use open-concept design and offer "Create Your Taste" digital ordering. The concept store also offers free mobile device charging and table service after 6:00 pm. The first store opened in Hong Kong in December 2015.[105] 2006 redesign An American McDonald's in Mount Pleasant, Iowa, in June 2008; this is an example of the "new" look of American McDonald's restaurants In 2006, McDonald's introduced its "Forever Young" brand by redesigning all of its restaurants, the first major redesign since the 1970s.[106][107] The goal of the redesign is to be more like a coffee shop, similar to Starbucks. The design includes wooden tables, faux-leather chairs, and muted colors; the red was muted to terracotta, the yellow was shifted to golden for a more "sunny" look, and olive and sage green were also added. To create a warmer look, the restaurants have less plastic and more brick and wood, with modern hanging lights to produce a softer glow. Many restaurants feature free Wi-Fi and flat-screen TVs. Other upgrades include double drive-thrus, flat roofs instead of the angled red roofs, and replacing fiber glass with wood. Instead of the familiar golden arches, the restaurants feature "semi-swooshes" (half of a golden arch), similar to the Nike swoosh.[108] Smoking ban McDonald's began banning smoking in 1994 when it restricted customers from smoking within its 1,400 wholly owned restaurants.[109] , McDonald's closed most seating and all play areas in its United States restaurants.[110] It transitioned to drive-thru and curbside orders at locations and online food ordering delivery services.[111] Restaurants in a number of countries including France, Italy, Spain, the United Kingdom and Republic of Ireland were temporarily closed.[112] Some of these closed restaurants have now re-opened for drive-thru/delivery service only with menu limitations and spend caps.[113] In other countries including Australia, Germany and Canada restaurants did not close but were limited to providing drive-thru, takeaway or delivery only.[112] McDonald's Australia was forced to close 11 Melbourne restaurants temporarily after staff came into contact with a delivery driver who tested positive The re-opening of McDonald's restaurants for drive-thru in the United Kingdom generated significant queues of traffic throughout the country.[115][116][117] Avon and Somerset Police warned long lines of traffic could "cause accidents"[118] and Warwickshire Police criticized the queues as "dangerous".[119] In July 2020, for the years's second quarter, McDonald's reported earnings of 66 cents per share. Compared to the same period of last year, it represented a fall of 68%.[120] Following the release of the BTS Meal, McDonald's several outlets in Indonesia were forced to temporarily close down due to the cramming of online food delivery drivers at branches.[121] A total of 32 branches were closed in Jakarta, with further closures in other parts of the country.[122] Treatment of employees A kiosk for placing orders at the Denton House McDonald's in New Hyde Park, on Long Island, New York A McDonald's employee takes an order in the Philippines Automation Since the late 1990s, McDonald's has attempted to replace employees with electronic kiosks which would perform actions such as taking orders and accepting money. In 1999, McDonald's first tested "E-Clerks" in suburban Chicago, Illinois, and Wyoming, Michigan, with the devices being able to "save money on live staffers" and attracting larger purchase amounts than average employees.[123] In 2013, the University of Oxford estimated that in the succeeding decades, there was a 92% probability of food preparation and serving to become automated in fast food establishments.[124] By 2016, McDonald's "Create Your Taste" electronic kiosks were seen in some restaurants internationally where customers could custom order meals. As employees pushed for higher wages in the late-2010s, some believed that fast food companies such as McDonald's would use the devices to cut costs for employing individuals.[125] In September 2019, McDonald's purchased an AI-based start-up Apprente for replacing human servers with voice-based technology in its US drive-throughs.[126] Wages On August 5, 2013, The Guardian revealed that 90 percent of McDonald's UK workforce are on zero-hour contracts, making it possibly the largest such private sector employer in the country.[127] In April 2017, due to employee strikes, they gave all employees the option of fixed contracts instead.[128] A study released by Fast Food Forward conducted by Anzalone Liszt Grove Research showed that approximately 84 percent of all fast food employees working in New York City in April 2013 had been paid less than their legal wages by their employers.[129] From 2007 to 2011, fast food workers in the U.S. drew an average of $7 billion of public assistance annually resulting from receiving low wages.[130] The McResource website advised employees to break their food into smaller pieces to feel fuller, seek refunds for unopened holiday purchases, sell possessions online for quick cash, and to "quit complaining" as "stress hormone levels rise by 15 percent after ten minutes of complaining."[131] In December 2013, McDonald's shut down the McResource website amidst negative publicity and criticism. McDonald's plans to continue an internal telephone help line through which its employees can obtain advice on work and life problems.[132] Liberal think tank the Roosevelt Institute accuses some McDonald's restaurants of actually paying less than the minimum wage to entry positions due to "rampant" wage theft.[133] In South Korea, McDonald's pays part-time employees $5.50 an hour and is accused of paying less with arbitrary schedules adjustments and pay delays.[134] In late 2015, Anonymous-aggregated data collected by Glassdoor suggests that McDonald's in the United States pays entry-level employees between $7.25 an hour and $11 an hour, with an average of $8.69 an hour. Shift managers get paid an average of $10.34 an hour. Assistant managers get paid an average of $11.57 an hour.[135] McDonald's CEO, Steve Easterbrook, earns an annual salary of $1,100,000.[136] His total compensation for 2017 was $21,761,052.[137] Strikes See also: Fast food worker strikes Fast food workers on strike outside of a McDonald's in St. Paul, Minnesota McDonald's workers have on occasions decided to strike over pay, with most of the employees on strike seeking to be paid $15.00.[138] When interviewed about the strikes occurring, former McDonald's CEO Ed Rensi stated: "It's cheaper to buy a $35,000 robotic arm than it is to hire an employee who's inefficient making $15 an hour bagging french fries" with Rensi explaining that increasing employee wages could possibly take away from entry-level jobs.[139] However, according to Easterbrook, increasing wages and benefits for workers saw a 6% increase in customer satisfaction when comparing 2015's first quarter data to the first quarter of 2016, with greater returns seen as a result.[139] In September 2017, two British McDonald's stores agreed to a strike over zero-hours contracts for staff. Picket lines were formed around the two stores in Crayford and Cambridge. The strike was supported by the Leader of the Opposition Jeremy Corbyn.[140][141] Occupation Workers at the McDonald's franchise at Saint-Barthélémy, Marseille, occupied the restaurant, in protest against its planned closure. Employing 77 people, the restaurant is the second-biggest private sector employer in Saint-Barthélémy, which has an unemployment rate of 30 percent.[142] Lawyers for Kamel Guemari, a shop steward at the franchise, claimed an attempt was made to kill him when a car drove at him in the restaurant car park.[143][144] Working conditions In March 2015, McDonald's workers in 19 U.S. cities filed 28 health and safety complaints with the U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration which allege that low staffing, lack of protective gear, poor training and pressure to work fast has resulted in injuries. The complaints allege that, because of a lack of first aid supplies, workers were told by management to treat burn injuries with condiments such as mayonnaise and mustard.[145] The Fight for $15 labor organization aided the workers in filing the complaints.[146] Animal welfare standards In 2015, McDonald's pledged to stop using eggs from battery cage facilities by 2025. Since McDonald's purchases over 2 billion eggs per year or 4 percent of eggs produced in the United States, the switch is expected to have a major impact on the egg industry and is part of a general trend toward cage-free eggs driven by consumer concern over the harsh living conditions of hens.[147][148] The aviary systems from which the new eggs will be sourced are troubled by much higher mortality rates, as well as introducing environmental and worker safety problems.[149] The high hen mortality rate, which is more than double that of battery cage systems, will require new research to mitigate. The facilities have higher ammonia levels due to faeces being kicked up into the air. Producers raised concerns about the production cost, which is expected to increase by 36 percent.[150] McDonald's continues to source pork from facilities that use gestation crates, and in 2012 pledged to phase them out.[151] Marketing and advertising Main article: McDonald's advertising McDonald's has for decades maintained an extensive advertising campaign. In addition to the usual media (television, radio, and newspaper), the company makes significant use of billboards and signage, and also sponsors sporting events ranging from Little League to the FIFA World Cup and Olympic Games.[152] Television has played a central role in the company's advertising strategy.[153] To date, McDonald's has used 23 different slogans in United States advertising, as well as a few other slogans for select countries and regions.[154] Children's advertising Main articles: Ronald McDonald and McDonaldland Celebrity endorsements In 1992, basketball player Michael Jordan became the first celebrity to have a McDonald's value meal named after him. The "McJordan", a Quarter Pounder with pickles, raw onion slices, bacon and barbecue sauce, was available at Chicago franchises.[155] In March 2014, a special "Sprite 6 Mix by LeBron James" flavor of Sprite featuring the flavors of lemon-lime, orange, and cherry, debuted just before the NBA playoffs.[156] James’ endorsement of Sprite has also included the seasonal "cranberry" and "winter-spiced cranberry" editions of the beverage. James’ deal with Coca Cola and Sprite ended in 2020, with a new partnership with Pepsi and Mountain Dew launching in 2021.[157] In September 2020, McDonald's partnered with rapper Travis Scott to release the "Travis Scott Meal", a Quarter Pounder with cheese, bacon, lettuce, pickles, ketchup and mustard; medium fries with barbecue sauce; and a Sprite, nationwide. Scott designed new uniforms for McDonald's employees and released Cactus Jack merchandise using vintage visuals from the fast food chain's history.[158] The company followed up with the "J Balvin Meal", a Big Mac with no pickles; fries with ketchup; and a Oreo McFlurry, in a partnership with reggaeton singer J Balvin.[159] LeBron James has been a spokesman for McDonald's from 2003 to 2017[160] while co-endorsing Coca Cola-Sprite since early in his career.[161] In 2021, McDonald's partnered with Korean boy group BTS to release the "BTS Meal" in 50 countries around the world, starting on May 26 in select countries. The meal consists of a 10-piece Chicken McNuggets, medium fries, medium Coke, and for the first time in the United States, two spicy dipping sauces: Sweet Chili and Cajun.[162] Space exploration McDonald's and NASA explored an advertising agreement for a planned mission to the asteroid 449 Hamburga; however, the spacecraft was eventually cancelled.[163] Sponsorship in NASCAR The McDonald's-sponsored car of Jamie McMurray in 2016 McDonald's entered the NASCAR Cup Series in 1977, sponsoring Richard Childress for one race. Between the years 1977 and 1986, McDonald's would only sponsor a handful of races in a season. In 1993, McDonald's became the full-time sponsor for the No. 27 Junior Johnson & Associates Ford, driven by Hut Stricklin.[164] In 1994, Stricklin was replaced in the car by Jimmy Spencer, who would go on to win twice that season. The following season McDonald's would move over to the No. 94 Bill Elliott Racing Ford, driven by team-owner Bill Elliott.[165] McDonald's stayed with Elliott until the 2001 season when they moved again, this time to the No. 96 PPI Motorsports Ford, driven by rookie Andy Houston. However, when the team failed to field a car for the entire season, McDonald's became absent from NASCAR until 2004, when it joined Evernham Motorsports as a part-time sponsor for drivers Elliott, Kasey Kahne, Elliott Sadler, A. J. Allmendinger, and Reed Sorenson until 2010.[164] During the 2010 season, McDonald's would enter its longest partnership with a team at Chip Ganassi Racing, sponsoring the No. 1 Chevrolet driven by Jamie McMurray until his final race in the 2019 Daytona 500.[166][167] McDonald's moved to CGR's No. 42 of Kyle Larson, whom the company sponsored until his suspension in 2020,[168] and also had a one-race partnership with Richard Petty Motorsports' No. 43 Chevrolet driven by Bubba Wallace in 2019 and 2020.[169][170] McDonald's continued working with the No. 42 under new driver Ross Chastain in 2021 and also joined Wallace's new team 23XI Racing as a "founding partner".[171][172] Sports awards and honors See also: Category:McDonald's High School All-Americans McDonald's is the title sponsor of the McDonald's All-American Game, all-star basketball games played each year for top ranked amateur American and Canadian boys' and girls' high school basketball graduates. Charity See also: Ronald McDonald House Charities McHappy Day A Ronald McDonald House collection box in Framingham, Massachusetts McHappy Day is an annual event at McDonald's, during which a percentage of the day's sales go to charity. It is the signature fundraising event for Ronald McDonald House Charities.[173] In 2007, it was celebrated in 17 countries: Argentina, Australia, Austria, Brazil, Canada, England, Finland, France, Guatemala, Hungary, Ireland, New Zealand, Norway, Sweden, Switzerland, the United States, and Uruguay. According to the Australian McHappy Day website, McHappy Day raised $20.4 million in 2009. The goal for 2010 was $20.8 million.[174] McDonald's Monopoly donation In 1995, St. Jude Children's Research Hospital received an anonymous letter postmarked in Dallas, Texas, containing a $1 million winning McDonald's Monopoly game piece. McDonald's officials came to the hospital, accompanied by a representative from the accounting firm Arthur Andersen, who examined the card under a jeweler's eyepiece, handled it with plastic gloves, and verified it as a winner.[175] Although game rules prohibited the transfer of prizes, McDonald's waived the rule and made the annual $50,000 annuity payments for the full 20-year period through 2014, even after learning that the piece was sent by an individual involved in an embezzlement scheme intended to defraud McDonald's. McRefugee See also: McRefugee McRefugees are poor people in Hong Kong, Japan, and China who use McDonald's 24-hour restaurants as a temporary hostel.[176] Criticism A PETA activist dressed as a chicken confronts the manager of the Times Square McDonald's over the company's animal welfare standards. In the late 1980s, Phil Sokolof, a millionaire businessman who had suffered a heart attack at the age of 43, took out full-page newspaper ads in New York, Chicago, and other large cities accusing McDonald's menu of being a threat to American health, and asking them to stop using beef tallow to cook their french fries.[177] In 1990, activists from a small group known as London Greenpeace (no connection to the international group Greenpeace) distributed leaflets entitled What's wrong with McDonald's?, criticizing its environmental, health, and labor record. The corporation wrote to the group demanding they desist and apologize, and, when two of the activists refused to back down, sued them for libel leading to the "McLibel case", one of the longest cases in English civil law. A documentary film of the McLibel Trial has been shown in several countries.[178] In 2001, Eric Schlosser's book Fast Food Nation included criticism of the business practices of McDonald's. Among the critiques were allegations that McDonald's (along with other companies within the fast food industry) uses its political influence to increase its profits at the expense of people's health and the social conditions of its workers. The book also brought into question McDonald's advertisement techniques in which it targets children. While the book did mention other fast-food chains, it focused primarily on McDonald's.[179] In 2002, vegetarian groups, largely Hindu and Buddhist, successfully sued McDonald's for misrepresenting its French fries as vegetarian, when they contained beef broth.[180] In the same year, Spanish band Ska-P released a song titled "McDollar" in their album ¡¡Que Corra La Voz‼ criticizing McDonald's. Though the company objected, the term "McJob" was added to Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary in 2003.[181] The term was defined as "a low-paying job that requires little skill and provides little opportunity for advancement".[182] Merriam-Webster's Unabridged Dictionary also contains the word "McMansion", a critical, pejorative term used to describe an overly large, ostentatious, sometimes poorly designed or constructed house, often found in a suburb or in new developments on traditionally rural land. McMansions are often built in multiples that are difficult to distinguish from one another, like assembly-line factory parts or fast-food hamburgers.[183][184] Morgan Spurlock's 2004 documentary film Super Size Me claimed that McDonald's food was contributing to the increase of obesity in society and that the company was failing to provide nutritional information about its food for its customers. Six weeks after the film premiered, McDonald's announced that it was eliminating the super size option, and was creating the adult Happy Meal. There was a documentary called Fat Head, which pointed out inconsistencies in Super Size Me.[citation needed] Screenshot from McDonald's Video Game In 2006, an unsanctioned McDonald's Video Game by Italian group Molleindustria was released online. It is parody of the business practices of the corporate giant, taking the guise of a tycoon style business simulation game. In the game, the player plays the role of a McDonald's CEO, choosing whether or not to use controversial practices like genetically altered cow feed, plowing over rainforests, and corrupting public officials. McDonald's issued a statement distancing itself from the game.[185] In January 2014, McDonald's was accused of having used a series of tax maneuvers to avoid taxes in France. French authorities have billed McDonald's France in 2016 for 300 million euros for unpaid taxes on profit.[186] In April 2020, McDonald's apologized after footage showing a notice that was being displayed inside one of its restaurants in China saying that "black people are not allowed to enter."[187] In October 2020, the Azerbaijan branch of McDonald's was criticized for Facebook and Instagram posts endorsing Azerbaijan's military actions against Armenia in Nagorno-Karabakh.[188] While McDonald's restaurants exist in Armenia, as of January 2020, none of them were franchises of the global chain.[189][190] Company responses to criticism Discreet shopfront in historic Stratford-upon-Avon In response to public pressure, McDonald's has sought to include more healthy choices in its menu and has introduced a new slogan to its recruitment posters: "Not bad for a McJob".[191] The word McJob, first attested in the mid-1980s[181] and later popularized by Canadian novelist Douglas Coupland in his book Generation X: Tales for an Accelerated Culture, has become a buzzword for low-paid, unskilled work with few prospects or benefits and little security. McDonald's disputes this definition of McJob. In 2007, the company launched an advertising campaign with the slogan "Would you like a career with that?" on Irish television, asserting that its jobs have good prospects. In an effort to respond to growing consumer awareness of food provenance, the fast-food chain changed its supplier of both coffee beans and milk. UK chief executive Steve Easterbrook said: "British consumers are increasingly interested in the quality, sourcing, and ethics of the food and drink they buy".[192] In a bid to tap into the ethical consumer market,[193] McDonald's switched to using coffee beans taken from stocks that are certified by the Rainforest Alliance, a conservation group. Additionally, in response to pressure, McDonald's UK started using organic milk supplies for its bottled milk and hot drinks, although it still uses conventional milk in its milkshakes, and in all of its dairy products in the United States.[194] According to a report published by Farmers Weekly in 2007, the quantity of milk used by McDonald's could have accounted for as much as 5 percent of the UK's organic milk output.[195] McDonald's announced in May 2008 that, in the United States and Canada, it has switched to using cooking oil that contains no trans fats for its french fries, and canola-based oil with corn and soy oils, for its baked items, pies and cookies, by end of 2018.[196] With regard to acquiring chickens from suppliers who use CAK/CAS methods of slaughter, McDonald's says that it needs to see more research "to help determine whether any CAS system in current use is optimal from an animal welfare perspective."[197] Environmental record Stagnant water in a discarded McDonald's plastic cup Since McDonald's began receiving criticism for its environmental practices in the 1970s, it has significantly reduced its use of materials.[198] For instance, an "average meal" in the 1970s—a Big Mac, fries, and a drink—required 46 grams (1.6 oz) of packaging; today, it requires 25 grams (0.88 oz), a 46 percent reduction.[199] In addition, McDonald's eliminated the need for intermediate containers for cola by using a delivery system that pumps syrup directly from the delivery truck into storage containers, saving two million pounds (910 tonnes) of packaging annually.[200] Weight reductions in packaging and products, as well as increased usage of bulk packaging, ultimately decreased packaging by twenty-four million pounds (11,000 tonnes) annually.[201] McDonald's efforts to reduce solid waste by using less packaging and by promoting the use of recycled materials were recognized by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.[202] In 1990, McDonald's worked with the Environmental Defense Fund to stop using "clam shell"-shaped styrofoam food containers to store its food products.[203] In April 2008, McDonald's announced that 11 of its restaurants in Sheffield, England, were engaged in a biomass trial program that cut its waste and carbon footprint by half in the area. In this trial, waste from the restaurants was collected by Veolia Environmental Services and used to produce energy at a power plant. McDonald's announced plans to expand this project, although the lack of biomass power plants in the United States would prevent adoption of this plan as a national standard there anytime soon.[204] In addition, in Europe, McDonald's has been recycling vegetable grease by converting it to fuel for its diesel trucks.[205] In an effort to reduce energy usage by 25 percent in its restaurants, McDonald's opened a prototype restaurant in Chicago in 2009, intending to use the model in its other restaurants throughout the world. Building on past efforts, specifically a restaurant it opened in Sweden in 2000 that was the first to incorporate green ideas, McDonald's designed the Chicago site to save energy by managing storm water, using skylights for more natural lighting, and installing partitions and tabletops made from recycled goods, among other measures.[206] In 2012, McDonald's announced they would trial replacing styrofoam coffee cups with an alternative material.[207] In 2018, McDonalds switched from plastic straws to paper ones in Ireland and the United Kingdom[208] and Australia[209] in an effort to reduce plastic pollution. Followed by the Netherlands in 2020,[210] and Germany in 2021.[211] However, a subsequent investigation by The Sun found that the new paper straws were not recyclable.[208] Disabled activists criticized that the shift away from plastic straws is ableist, as certain disabilities result in the loss of gross or fine motor control, thus would prevent a customer from safely lifting, balancing or drinking from a cup.[212] In January 2021, McDonald's Arcos Dorados, the largest independent McDonald's franchise in the world which operates stores in Latin America and the Caribbean, introduced food trays manufactured by UBQ Materials that use a mix of food waste by-products to reduce the use of virgin plastic.[213] McDonald's uses a corn-based bioplastic to produce containers for some products. The environmental benefits of this technology are controversial, with critics noting that biodegradation is slow and produces greenhouse gases, and that contamination of traditional plastic waste streams with bioplastics can complicate recycling efforts.[214] Studies of litter have found that McDonald's is one of the most littered brands worldwide. In 2012, a Keep Australia Beautiful study found that McDonald's was the most littered brand in Queensland.[215][216] In 2009, Keep Britain Tidy likewise found McDonald's to be the leading producer of fast-food litter on British streets, accounting for 29% of the total.[217] An early protest against this practice was "Operation Send-It-Back", launched by London Greenpeace in 1994 in response to the company's targeting of activists in the McLibel Trial.[218] Participants in Operation Send-It-Back returned 30 sacks of McDonald's litter to the company.[218] In the 2010s, similar individual protests took place in New Zealand[219] and England.[220]" (wikipedia.org) "A "Happy Meal" is a kids' meal usually sold at the American fast food restaurant chain McDonald's since June 1979.[1] A small toy or book is included with the food, both of which are usually contained in a red cardboard box with a yellow smiley face and the McDonald's logo. The packaging and toy are frequently part of a marketing tie-in to an existing television series, film or toyline.... Description The Happy Meal logo in English The Happy Meal logo in Japanese. Text reads "Happy Set" (Happī Setto) in Katakana. The Happy Meal logo in Spanish. Text reads "Little Happy Box" (Latin America). The Happy Meal contains a main item (a hamburger, cheeseburger or small serving of Chicken McNuggets), a side item (French fries, apple slices, a Go-Gurt tube or a salad in some areas) and a drink (milk, juice or a soft drink). The choice of items changes from country to country and may depend on the size of the restaurant. In some countries, the choices have been expanded to include items such as a grilled cheese sandwich (known as a "Fry Kid"), or more healthy options such as apple slices, a mini snack wrap, salads or pasta, as one or more of the options.[2] History In the mid-1970s, Yolanda Fernández de Cofiño began working with her husband operating McDonald's restaurants in Guatemala. She created what she called the "Menu Ronald" (Ronald menu), which offered a hamburger, small fries and a small sundae to help mothers feed their children more effectively while at McDonald's restaurants.[3][4] The concept was eventually brought to the attention of McDonald's management in Chicago. The company gave the development of the product to Bob Bernstein, who then came up with the idea for the Happy Meal.[5] In 1977, the McDonald's restaurant owner clients who regularly met with Bernstein were looking for ways to create a better dining experience for families with kids. Bernstein reasoned that if kids could get a packaged meal all their own instead of just picking at their parent's food, everybody would be happier. He had often noticed his young son at the breakfast table poring over the various items on cereal boxes and thought, "Why not do that for McDonald's? The package is the key!" He then called in his creative team and had them mock up some paperboard boxes fashioned to resemble lunch pails with the McDonald's Golden Arches for handles. They called in nationally known children's illustrators and offered them the blank slate of filling the box's sides and tops with their own colorful ideas from art to jokes to games to comic strips to stories to fantasy: whatever they thought might appeal to kids, at least eight items per box. Inside the box would be a burger, small fries, packet of cookies and a surprise gift. A small drink would accompany these items. Bernstein then named it the Happy Meal and it was successfully introduced with television and radio spots and in-store posters in the Kansas City market in October 1977. Other markets followed and the national roll-out happened in 1979. Award for creation of Happy Meal packaging Bronze Happy Meal presented to Robert Bernstein crediting him with creation of the Happy Meal. Bernstein received Trademark #1136758 (Serial #73148046)[6] for his idea in 1977 which he assigned to his valued client, McDonald's Corporation, on June 10, 1980. In 1987 at the annual McDonald's marketing meeting, he was recognized for his accomplishment with a full-size the Happy Meal box with the following inscription:     McDonald's Happy Meal 10th Anniversary 1977-1987     To Robert A. Bernstein, Bernstein-Rein Advertising     Thank you for bringing the Happy Meal, a bold idea, to the McDonald's System.     Your insight and conviction truly has made McDonald's a fun place for children for the past 10 years!     McDonald's Corporation     September, 1987 Often, the Happy Meal is themed to promote a children and family-oriented film or television series. The first such promotion was the "Star Trek Meal", which promoted Star Trek: The Motion Picture in December 1979.[7][8] The packaging used for the Star Trek Meal consisted of various images and games related to the film, as well as a comic strip adaptation of the film. Consumers had to buy numerous meals in order to complete the set. In 1982, McDonald's recalled Happy Meal toys because they could have been dangerous to children under three years of age.[9] In 1992, McDonald's withdrew their range of Happy Meal toys for the film Batman Returns, after complaints from parents that the film was unsuitable for children.[10] In July 2011, McDonald's announced plans to make Happy Meals healthier, including the addition of apples. The redesigned meals will contain a smaller portion (1.1 ounces) of fries, along with the apples. On February 4, 2013, McDonald's announced that Fish McBites (fried Alaskan pollock, the same fish used in Filet-O-Fish) would be added as an entree, which would run until March, intended to coincide with Lent.[11] In 2014, McDonald's introduced a mascot to Happy Meals in the United States named as Happy, who originated in France as early as 2009. Reactions were mixed, with criticism that the mascot's design was too frightening.[12] Happy Meal toy Happy Meal toys seen in Indonesia The Happy Meal did not introduce the practice of providing small toys to children. When the Happy Meal was launched in 1979, the toys were a McDoodle stencil, a McWrist wallet, an ID bracelet, a puzzle lock, a spinning top or a McDonaldland character-shaped eraser. In Canada, the promotion prior to the Happy Meal was called the "Treat of the Week", where a different toy was available free on request each week.[13] This promotion continued after the Happy Meal was introduced in 1979 while Happy Meal toys have also become increasingly elaborate in recent years. While they were initially cheap items such as a Frisbee or ball, they have gradually been replaced with increasingly sophisticated toys, many of which are a tie-in to an existing TV series, film, video game or toy line." (wikipedia.org) "A sailor, seaman, mariner, or seafarer is a man who works aboard a watercraft as part of its crew, and may work in any one of a number of different fields that are related to the operation and maintenance of a ship. The profession of the sailor is old, and the term sailor has its etymological roots in a time when sailing ships were the main mode of transport at sea, but it now refers to the personnel of all watercraft regardless of the mode of transport, and encompasses people who operate ships professionally, as a sport or recreationally. Be it for a military navy or civilian merchant navy. In a navy, there may be further distinctions: sailor may refer to any member of the navy even if they are based on land; while seaman may refer to a specific enlisted rank.... Professional mariners Seafarers hold a variety of professions and ranks, each of which carries unique responsibilities which are integral to the successful operation of an ocean-going vessel. A ship's crew can generally be divided into four main categories: the deck department, the engineering department, the steward's department, and others. Deck department Further information: Deck department An able seaman stands iceberg lookout on the bow of the freighter USNS Southern Cross during a re-supply mission to McMurdo Station, Antarctica; circa 1981. Officer positions in the deck department include but are not limited to: master and his chief, second and third officers. The official classifications for unlicensed members of the deck department are able seaman and ordinary seaman. With some variation, the chief mate is most often charged with the duties of cargo mate. Second Mates are charged with being the medical officer in case of medical emergency. All three mates each do four-hour morning and afternoon shifts on the bridge, when underway at sea. A common deck crew for a ship includes:     (1) Captain / Master     (1) Chief Officer / Chief Mate     (1) Second Officer / Second Mate     (1) Third Officer / Third Mate     (1) Boatswain (unlicensed Petty Officer: Qualified member Deck Dept.)     (2) Able seamen (unlicensed qualified rating)     (2) Ordinary seamen (entry-level rating)     (0-1) Deck Cadet / unlicensed Trainee navigator / Midshipman Engineering department Further information: Engineering department A ship's engineering department consists of the members of a ship's crew that operates and maintains the propulsion and other systems on board the vessel. Marine engineering staff also deal with the "hotel" facilities on board, notably the sewage, lighting, air conditioning and water systems. Engineering staff manage bulk fuel transfers, from a fuel-supply barge in port. When underway at sea, the second and third engineers will often be occupied with oil transfers from storage tanks, to active working tanks. Cleaning of oil purifiers is another regular task. Engineering staff are required to have training in firefighting and first aid. Additional duties include maintaining the ship's boats and performing other nautical tasks. Engineers play a key role in cargo loading/discharging gear and safety systems, though the specific cargo discharge function remains the responsibility of deck officers and deck workers. A common engineering crew for a ship includes:     (1) Chief Engineer     (1) Second Engineer / First Assistant Engineer     (1) Third Engineer / Second Assistant Engineer     (1) Fourth Engineer / Third Assistant Engineer     (1) Motorman (unlicensed Junior Engineer: Qualified member Engine Dept.)     (2) Oiler (unlicensed qualified rating)     (2) Entry-level rating Wiper     (0–1) Engine Cadet / unlicensed Trainee engineer American ships also carry a qualified member of the engine department. Other possible positions include motorman, machinist, electrician, refrigeration engineer and tankerman. Steward's department Further information: Steward's department A typical steward's department for a cargo ship is a chief steward, a chief cook and a steward's assistant. All three positions are typically filled by unlicensed personnel. The chief steward directs, instructs, and assigns personnel performing such functions as preparing and serving meals; cleaning and maintaining officers' quarters and steward department areas; and receiving, issuing, and inventorying stores. The chief steward also plans menus, compiles supply, overtime, and cost control records. The steward may requisition or purchase stores and equipment. Galley roles may include baking. A chief steward's duties may overlap with those of the steward's assistant, the chief cook, and other Steward's department crewmembers. A person in the United States Merchant Marine has to have a Merchant Mariner's Document issued by the United States Coast Guard in order to serve as a chief steward. All chief cooks who sail internationally are similarly documented by their respective countries because of international conventions and agreements. The only time that steward department staff are charged with duties outside the steward department, is during the execution of the fire and boat drill. Other departments Further information: Seafarer's professions and ranks § Other Various types of staff officer positions may exist on board a ship, including junior assistant purser, senior assistant purser, purser, chief purser, medical doctor, professional nurse, marine physician assistant and hospital corpsman. In the USA these jobs[1] are considered administrative positions and are therefore regulated by Certificates of Registry issued by the United States Coast Guard. Pilots are also merchant marine officers and are licensed by the Coast Guard. Working conditions Standard merchant watch system     Day 1     Day 2     Day 3 4am–8am     Team 1     Team 1     Team 1 8am–12pm     Team 2     Team 2     Team 2 12pm–4pm     Team 3     Team 3     Team 3 4pm–8pm     Team 1     Team 1     Team 1 8pm–12am     Team 2     Team 2     Team 2 12am–4am     Team 3     Team 3     Team 3 Mariners spend extended periods at sea. Most deep-sea mariners are hired for one or more voyages that last for several months. There is no job security after that. The length of time between voyages varies by job availability and personal preference.[2] The rate of unionization for these workers in the United States is about 36 percent, much higher than the average for all occupations. Consequently, merchant marine officers and seamen, both veterans and beginners, are hired for voyages through union hiring halls or directly by shipping companies. Hiring halls fill jobs by the length of time the person has been registered at the hall and by their union seniority. Hiring halls typically are found in major seaports. At sea, on larger vessels members of the deck department usually stand watch for 4 hours and are off for 8 hours, 7 days a week.[a] Mariners work in all weather conditions. Working in damp and cold conditions often is inevitable, although ships try to avoid severe storms while at sea. It is uncommon for modern vessels to suffer disasters such as fire, explosion, or a sinking. Yet workers face the possibility of having to abandon ship on short notice if it collides with other vessels or runs aground. Mariners also risk injury or death from falling overboard and from hazards associated with working with machinery, heavy loads, and dangerous cargo. However, modern safety management procedures, advanced emergency communications, and effective international rescue systems place modern mariners in a much safer position. Most newer vessels are air conditioned, soundproofed from noisy machinery, and equipped with comfortable living quarters. These amenities have helped ease the sometimes difficult circumstances of long periods away from home. Also, modern communications such as email, instant messaging and social media platforms link modern mariners to their families. Nevertheless, some mariners dislike the long periods away from home and the confinement aboard ship. They consequently leave the profession. Life at sea The tanker SS Overseas Alice takes seas over the bow during a 1981 run from New Orleans to Panama. Portrait of a sailor taken on board the French aviso Ardent, 1857. Professional mariners live on the margins of society, with much of their life spent beyond the reach of land. They face cramped, stark, noisy, and dangerous conditions at sea. Yet men and women still go to sea. For some, the attraction is a life unencumbered with the restraints of life ashore. Seagoing adventure and a chance to see the world also appeal to many seafarers. Whatever the calling, those who live and work at sea invariably confront social isolation. Findings by the Seafarer's International Research Center indicate a leading cause of mariners leaving the industry is "almost invariably because they want to be with their families". U.S. merchant ships typically do not allow family members to accompany seafarers on voyages. Industry experts increasingly recognize isolation, stress, and fatigue as occupational hazards. Advocacy groups such as International Labor Organization, a United Nations agency, and the Nautical Institute seek improved international standards for mariners. Sailors on a ship One's service aboard ships typically extends for months at a time, followed by protracted shore leave. However, some seamen secure jobs on ships they like and stay aboard for years. In rare cases, veteran mariners choose never to go ashore when in port. Further, the quick turnaround of many modern ships, spending only a matter of hours in port, limits a seafarer's free-time ashore. Moreover, some seafarers entering U.S. ports from a watch list of 25 countries deemed high-risk face restrictions on shore leave due to security concerns in a post 9/11 environment. However, shore leave restrictions while in U.S. ports impact American seamen as well. For example, the International Organization of Masters, Mates & Pilots notes a trend of U.S. shipping terminal operators restricting seamen from traveling from the ship to the terminal gate. Further, in cases where transit is allowed, special "security fees" are at times assessed. Such restrictions on shore leave coupled with reduced time in port by many ships translate into longer periods at sea. Mariners report that extended periods at sea living and working with shipmates who for the most part are strangers takes getting used to. At the same time, there is an opportunity to meet people from a wide range of ethnic and cultural backgrounds. Recreational opportunities have improved aboard some U.S. ships, which may feature gyms and day rooms for watching movies, swapping sea stories, and other activities. And in some cases, especially tankers, it is made possible for a mariner to be accompanied by members of his family. However, a mariner's off duty time at sea is largely a solitary affair, pursuing hobbies, reading, writing letters, and sleeping. Internet accessibility is fast coming to the sea with the advent of cheap satellite communication, mainly from Inmarsat. The availability of affordable roaming SIM cards with online top-up facilities have also contributed to improved connection with friends and family at home. Notable mariners Further information: List of notable mariners and List of sea captains Statue dedicated to Italian sailors at Finale Ligure, Liguria, Italy. Erik the Red and his son Leif Erikson were the first notable mariners known to sail in a primitive, partly man powered vessel across the Arctic and the North Atlantic Ocean. Barbarossa Hayrettin Pasha (Turkish: Barbaros Hayrettin Paşa or Hızır Hayrettin Paşa; also Hızır Reis before being promoted to the rank of Pasha and becoming the Kaptan-ı Derya (Fleet Admiral) of the Ottoman Navy) (c. 1478 – 4 July 1546) was an Ottoman admiral who dominated the Mediterranean for decades. He was born on the island of Lesbos/ Mytilini and died in Istanbul, the Ottoman capital. Merchant seamen have gone on to make their mark on the world in a number of interesting ways. Traian Băsescu, who started his career as a third mate in 1976 was the President of Romania from 2004 to 2014. Arthur Phillip joined the Merchant Navy in 1751 and 37 years later founded the city of Sydney, Australia. Merchant mariner Douglass North went from seaman to navigator to winner of the 1993 Nobel Prize in Economics. Jimmy Carter went on to become the 39th President of the United States after service in the US Navy. Members of the British Merchant Navy have won the Distinguished Service Cross and have had careers taking them from 'Deck Boy Peter' to Air Marshal Sir Beresford Peter Torrington Horsley KCB, CBE, LVO, AFC. Canadian merchant seamen have won the Victoria Cross and the Medal of Honor. American merchant seamen have won the Medal of Honor in the Korean War and Vietnam War, and one went on to become the "Father of the American Navy." One doesn't have to look far to find merchant seamen who became war heroes in Scotland, France, New Zealand, Peru, or Denmark. Since World War II, a number of merchant seamen have become notorious criminals. American William Colepaugh was convicted as a Nazi spy in World War II and Fritz Sauckel was convicted as a Nazi war criminal. Briton Duncan Scott-Ford was hanged for treachery in World War II. George Hennard was an American mass murderer who claimed 24 victims on a rampage at Luby's Cafeteria in Killeen, Texas. And Perry Smith's own murderous rampage was made famous in Truman Capote's non-fiction novel In Cold Blood. Ferdinand Magellan led the first expedition that circumnavigated the globe in 1519–1522. Mariners are well represented in the visual arts. French pilot's assistant Paul Gauguin later became a leading post-impressionist painter and pioneered modern art's synthetist style. American seaman Haskell Wexler later won two Academy Awards, the latter for a biography of his shipmate Woody Guthrie. British Merchant Navy member Ken Russell later directed films such as Tommy, Altered States and The Lair of the White Worm. Merchant seaman Johnny Craig was already a working comic book artist before he joined up, but Ernie Schroeder wouldn't start drawing comics until after returning home from World War II. Merchant sailors have also made a splash in the world of sport. In football, with Fred Blackburn in England and the likes of Dan Devine and Heisman Trophy winner Frank Sinkwich in the U.S. In track and field, American seamen Cornelius Johnson and Jim Thorpe both won Olympic medals, though Thorpe didn't get his until 30 years after his death. Seamen Jim Bagby, Jr. and Charlie Keller went on to Major League Baseball. Drew Bundini Brown was Muhammad Ali's assistant trainer and cornerman, and Joe Gold went on to make his fortune as the bodybuilding and fitness guru of Gold's Gym. Other sporting notables include Dutchman Henk de Velde known for sailing solo around the world, and Briton Matthew Webb who was the first person to swim the English Channel without the use of artificial aid. Irish Merchant Navy member Kevin McClory spent 14 days in a lifeboat and later went on to write the James Bond movies Never Say Never Again and Thunderball. Members of the American Beat Movement Allen Ginsberg, Jack Kerouac, Bob Kaufman, and Herbert Huncke were all Merchant Mariners. It is perhaps not surprising that the writers of Moby Dick, The American Practical Navigator, and Two Years Before the Mast were Merchant Mariners. It might be surprising that the writers of Borat, A Hard Day's Night, and Cool Hand Luke were. A number of U.S. Merchant Mariners from World War II later played well known television characters. The list includes Milburn Drysdale on The Beverly Hillbillies, Archie Bunker on All in the Family, Peter Falk on Columbo, Jim Rockford on The Rockford Files, Steve McGarret on Hawaii Five-O, Uncle Jesse Duke on The Dukes of Hazzard and Cheyenne Bodie on Cheyenne. Other uses Statue of a Mexican Navy sailor at the Naval History Museum. An ancient term, the word "sailor" has come to mean many things. Sailor may refer to:     A person who is under sail and not on a vessel with motorized power of any kind in the Royal Navy,     A person who goes out sailing, boating or yachting,     A person who practices the art of controlling the motion of a sailing ship or sailboat across a body of water,     A member of a military naval force,     Anyone on a boat,     Anyone from a recruit to an admiral in a navy or coast guard,     Members of the deck department as opposed to members of other departments in the Merchant Navy." (wikipedia.org) "A boat is a watercraft of a large range of types and sizes, but generally smaller than a ship, which is distinguished by its larger size, shape, cargo or passenger capacity, or its ability to carry boats. Small boats are typically found on inland waterways such as rivers and lakes, or in protected coastal areas. However, some boats, such as the whaleboat, were intended for use in an offshore environment. In modern naval terms, a boat is a vessel small enough to be carried aboard a ship. Anomalous definitions exist, as lake freighters 1,000 feet (300 m) long on the Great Lakes are called "boats". Boats vary in proportion and construction methods with their intended purpose, available materials, or local traditions. Canoes have been used since prehistoric times and remain in use throughout the world for transportation, fishing, and sport. Fishing boats vary widely in style partly to match local conditions. Pleasure craft used in recreational boating include ski boats, pontoon boats, and sailboats. House boats may be used for vacationing or long-term residence. Lighters are used to convey cargo to and from large ships unable to get close to shore. Lifeboats have rescue and safety functions. Boats can be propelled by manpower (e.g. rowboats and paddle boats), wind (e.g. sailboats), and motor (including gasoline, diesel, and electric).... History Silver model of a boat, tomb PG 789, Royal Cemetery of Ur, 2600-2500 BCE. Boats have served as transportation since the earliest times.[1] Circumstantial evidence, such as the early settlement of Australia over 40,000 years ago, findings in Crete dated 130,000 years ago,[2] and in Flores dated to 900,000 years ago,[3] suggest that boats have been used since prehistoric times. The earliest boats are thought to have been dugouts,[4] and the oldest boats found by archaeological excavation date from around 7,000–10,000 years ago. The oldest recovered boat in the world, the Pesse canoe, found in the Netherlands, is a dugout made from the hollowed tree trunk of a Pinus sylvestris that was constructed somewhere between 8200 and 7600 BC. This canoe is exhibited in the Drents Museum in Assen, Netherlands.[5][6] Other very old dugout boats have also been recovered.[7][8][9] Rafts have operated for at least 8,000 years.[10] A 7,000-year-old seagoing reed boat has been found in Kuwait.[11] Boats were used between 4000 and 3000 BC in Sumer,[1] ancient Egypt[12] and in the Indian Ocean.[1] Boats played an important role in the commerce between the Indus Valley Civilization and Mesopotamia.[13] Evidence of varying models of boats has also been discovered at various Indus Valley archaeological sites.[14][15] Uru craft originate in Beypore, a village in south Calicut, Kerala, in southwestern India. This type of mammoth wooden ship was constructed[when?] solely of teak, with a transport capacity of 400 tonnes. The ancient Arabs and Greeks used such boats as trading vessels.[16] The historians Herodotus, Pliny the Elder and Strabo record the use of boats for commerce, travel, and military purposes.[14] Types Boats with sails in Bangladesh Main article: List of boat types Boats can be categorized into three main types:     Unpowered or human-powered. Unpowered craft include rafts meant for one-way downstream travel. Human-powered boats include canoes, kayaks, gondolas and boats propelled by poles like a punt.     Sailboats, propelled mainly by means of sails.     Motorboats, propelled by mechanical means, such as engines. Terminology Further information: Glossary of nautical terms The hull is the main, and in some cases only, structural component of a boat. It provides both capacity and buoyancy. The keel is a boat's "backbone", a lengthwise structural member to which the perpendicular frames are fixed. On most boats a deck covers the hull, in part or whole. While a ship often has several decks, a boat is unlikely to have more than one. Above the deck are often lifelines connected to stanchions, bulwarks perhaps topped by gunnels, or some combination of the two. A cabin may protrude above the deck forward, aft, along the centerline, or covering much of the length of the boat. Vertical structures dividing the internal spaces are known as bulkheads. The forward end of a boat is called the bow, the aft end the stern. Facing forward the right side is referred to as starboard and the left side as port. Building materials See also: Boat building Traditional Toba Batak boat (circa 1870), photograph by Kristen Feilberg Fishing boats in Visakhapatnam, India Until the mid-19th century most boats were made of natural materials, primarily wood, although reed, bark and animal skins were also used. Early boats include the bound-reed style of boat seen in Ancient Egypt, the birch bark canoe, the animal hide-covered kayak[17] and coracle and the dugout canoe made from a single log. By the mid-19th century, many boats had been built with iron or steel frames but still planked in wood. In 1855 ferro-cement boat construction was patented by the French, who coined the name "ferciment". This is a system by which a steel or iron wire framework is built in the shape of a boat's hull and covered over with cement. Reinforced with bulkheads and other internal structure it is strong but heavy, easily repaired, and, if sealed properly, will not leak or corrode.[citation needed] As the forests of Britain and Europe continued to be over-harvested to supply the keels of larger wooden boats, and the Bessemer process (patented in 1855) cheapened the cost of steel, steel ships and boats began to be more common. By the 1930s boats built entirely of steel from frames to plating were seen replacing wooden boats in many industrial uses and fishing fleets. Private recreational boats of steel remain uncommon. In 1895 WH Mullins produced steel boats of galvanized iron and by 1930 became the world's largest producer of pleasure boats. Mullins also offered boats in aluminum from 1895 through 1899 and once again in the 1920s,[18] but it wasn't until the mid-20th century that aluminium gained widespread popularity. Though much more expensive than steel, aluminum alloys exist that do not corrode in salt water, allowing a similar load carrying capacity to steel at much less weight. Around the mid-1960s, boats made of fiberglass (aka "glassfibre") became popular, especially for recreational boats. Fiberglass is also known as "GRP" (glass-reinforced plastic) in the UK, and "FRP" (for fiber-reinforced plastic) in the US. Fiberglass boats are strong, and do not rust, corrode, or rot. Instead, they are susceptible to structural degradation from sunlight and extremes in temperature over their lifespan. Fiberglass structures can be made stiffer with sandwich panels, where the fiberglass encloses a lightweight core such as balsa[19] or foam. Cold moulding is a modern construction method, using wood as the structural component. In cold moulding very thin strips of wood are layered over a form. Each layer is coated with resin, followed by another directionally alternating layer laid on top. Subsequent layers may be stapled or otherwise mechanically fastened to the previous, or weighted or vacuum bagged to provide compression and stabilization until the resin sets. Propulsion See also: Marine propulsion The most common means of boat propulsion are as follows:     Engine         Inboard motor         Stern drive (Inboard/outboard)         Outboard motor         Paddle wheel         Water jet (jetboat, personal water craft)         Fan (hovercraft, air boat)     Man (rowing, paddling, setting pole etc.)     Wind (sailing) Buoyancy Main article: Buoyancy A boat displaces its weight in water, regardless whether it is made of wood, steel, fiberglass, or even concrete. If weight is added to the boat, the volume of the hull drawn below the waterline will increase to keep the balance above and below the surface equal. Boats have a natural or designed level of buoyancy. Exceeding it will cause the boat first to ride lower in the water, second to take on water more readily than when properly loaded, and ultimately, if overloaded by any combination of structure, cargo, and water, sink. As commercial vessels must be correctly loaded to be safe, and as the sea becomes less buoyant in brackish areas such as the Baltic, the Plimsoll line was introduced to prevent overloading. European Union classification Since 1998 all new leisure boats and barges built in Europe between 2.5m and 24m must comply with the EU's Recreational Craft Directive (RCD). The Directive establishes four categories that permit the allowable wind and wave conditions for vessels in each class:[20]     Class A - the boat may safely navigate any waters.     Class B - the boat is limited to offshore navigation. (Winds up to Force 8 & waves up to 4 metres)     Class C - the boat is limited to inshore (coastal) navigation. (Winds up to Force 6 & waves up to 2 metres)     Class D - the boat is limited to rivers, canals and small lakes. (Winds up to Force 4 & waves up to 0.5 metres)" (wikipedia.org)
  • Condition: Used
  • Condition: In good, pre-owned condition and complete. Please see photos and description.
  • Release Year: 1980
  • Year Retired: 1980
  • LEGO Set Number: 1919
  • Product Line (LEGO Theme): Duplo
  • Number of Pieces: 5
  • Material: Plastic
  • MPN: 1919
  • Age Level: 1-4
  • Interests: Ship/Boat
  • Brand: LEGO
  • Year: 1983
  • LEGO Set Name: Boat
  • LEGO Character: Sailor
  • Packaging: Without Packaging
  • Features: Vintage

PicClick Insights - 1983 DUPLO MCDONALDS HAPPY MEAL TOY boat sailor set #1919 vintage LEGO 1980s vtg PicClick Exclusive

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